


Past Love

by LinaMari



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst and Feels, Angst and Tragedy, Awkward Flirting, Awkward Romance, Awkward Sexual Situations, Awkwardness, Battle, Best Friends, Developing Friendships, Drama & Romance, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, F/M, Female Friendship, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Black Eagles Route Spoilers, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Spoilers, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Friendship, Implied Sexual Content, Lost Love, Love/Hate, Male-Female Friendship, Mutual Pining, POV Hubert von Vestra, POV Multiple, Platonic Relationships, Post-Black Eagles Route (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Romance, Sex, Sexual Content, Sexual Tension, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Spoilers for Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Survival Training, Training Camp
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:09:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 45,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28095945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LinaMari/pseuds/LinaMari
Summary: A work in progress, I hope I will write a few chapters about their love. Warning: It's a slow burn story. So I don't expect the first chapters to have a lot of romance immediately. Hubert is very awkward with his feelings and learning how to deal with them. You know the deal.-The battle has just started. The Great Knight Ari (Original female character), charge into the fight. Little did she know that she would face her worst fear, Hubert von Vestra. She used to train under the black eagle command during her years at the Academy before the war. She knows all of the enemies personally, and yet she is supposed to kill them. -Pre-War, and Postwar story.The story is in two times, the year at the academy, how they met, 'enemies to friends' and mutual pining because they are young and very awkward. There will be also a lot of friendship building with the other characters.I am trying to add my character smoothly in the original story of the Black Eagle route.Then there is the part during the end of the war. And I also want to continue writing about the post war situation and their fight against Those who slither in the Dark - it was so unfair that we did not get it in Edelgard's route!
Relationships: Caspar von Bergliez/Bernadetta von Varley, Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth, Hubert von Vestra & Original Character(s), Hubert von Vestra/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 11





	1. The final Battle (Prologue)

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there! 
> 
> English is not my mother tongue so I do hope there will not be too many mistakes. 
> 
> Feel free to comment on what you think about the story and if you have any suggestion! (storywise, grammar, characters etc)
> 
> I will try to write at least a chapter a week. 
> 
> I really hope you will like my original character, Ari! 
> 
> Also, this is my first fanfic ever, please be kind!
> 
> The first two chapters are basically a prologue!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle has started. Ari hopes not to meet the sinister member of the Black Eagle. However, destiny is always tricky.

###  The Final Battle 

It had been already five years since the war had begun. Ari would not let nostalgic thoughts enter her mind before a fight normally. These memories seemed so distant, almost as they were long lost dreams from her imagination. This was the same date as the massacre began, how wry is destiny.

She shook her head, to bring her thoughts back to reality. She needed to put her armour on. Normally she would get help from her squire, however, she would not let anyone approach her equipment since the last battle. She almost got trampled by her horse as her saddle was not correctly attached. Not being able to trust your closest ally was impossible to tolerate; she sent the squire to someone else. Fortunately, Ari knew how to attach all the heavy armour plates without any help, as she used to at the Officers Academy. Her equipment used to be lighter and simpler however not adjusted. Now that she was a great Knight, her armour covered her whole body. 

Decidedly her mind was wandering to old memories today, happy ones at least. A fainted smile drew itself on the corner of her lips. She put her helmet on. Hiding her face was not only a protection but also a way to instil fear upon the enemies. She was called by many names, mostly the Butcher Knight of Faerghus. She did became quite fierce in the span of five years and thought that she deserved that nickname. 

The war trumpets were starting to call; everyone needed to find their regiments immediately and get ready for battle. This meant that the enemy was in sight and that the battle will start soon. Ari ran out of her tent and she could see all the soldiers running like mad dogs around her. She detached her horse, Windsong from the pole. She could feel that he was uneasy and tensed to the noise and the bustle around. Even if he was a trained warhorse, they never get fully used to the violence around them. 

‘This is our last battle… hopefully…’ murmured Ari to the horse while trying to calm him by gently stroking his neck. 

She mounted her horse, grabbed her long single axe and went in the direction of her cavalry regiment. When she arrived, everyone was prepared, waiting for her order. Dedue was also there, with all the instructions from King Dimitri. 

‘Are you and your battalion ready, Ari?’ he asked without any inflexion as always. 

‘Yes, once I have given the order, we will attack their right flank as planned.’

‘Good, this is crucial’, he marked a pause, ‘Farewell, and I hope to see you after the battle.’

‘I too, Dedue’ she answered. 

Even if their interactions did not let it appear to the others, they were close friends outside of the battlefield. They often trained together as they both mastered axe combat. They nodded at each other and he returned to his position near the King. 

This led Ari to shout some orders to her cavalry. She needed to motivate them, they cannot hesitate to kill everyone on their sight. They needed to destroy the lancers first so they could give safe access to the rest of the troops.

The war trumpets rang again, this time all the agitation around the camp ceased. Everyone was waiting for the final order that would let them enter the combat zone. 

Ari took a deep long breath, this always calmed her down before, however, today something was different. As if bad energy was around them. Some dark enchantments were getting prepared on the other side of the battlefield, she could feel it.

She faced Gronder Field, the exact same field they all fought five years ago as a practice, the same field where the epic War of the Eagle and Lion took place centuries ago. 

She looked around her, Sylvain Jose Gautier was leading another cavalry. He was chatting with a fellow soldier joyfully, almost as if he was unaware of the massacre that was waiting for all of them. Ari could not understand his antics, mostly when they were in such a serious atmosphere. 

Her sight went back to examine the field. The troops from the Adrestian Empire were getting deployed. She counted the numbers of enemy soldiers that she could see. The Holy Kingdom’s army was clearly outnumbered. This would not change her attitude against the enemy: she would slaughter everyone on her way. Some infantry from their side were also getting deployed all around the front line. 

It was finally their time to enter the battlefield. She agitated her axe in direction of the right flank and shook the bridle of her horse. They left the camp with some other cavalry regiments. They passed around the walls of stakes. 

They all stopped right behind the infantry, waiting for the final order to launch the assault. The uproars from both sides were resonating in the whole valley. While she was thinking about the strategy, a sinister thought crossed her mind. 

Will he be there? He must. He will be on Edelgard’s side to protect her. There is absolutely no reason for him not to be present to this battle. In the five years that the war has last, she saw him only a few times from afar. This is a crucial battle, if Edelgard is here, he will be with her. These thoughts petrified her for an instant. The idea of seeing him again on the battlefield was the worst possible thing to cross her mind before the battle. She tried to contain her anxiety so her horse and fellow troopers could not feel it. 

Her breath went faster and faster until the final trumpets rang. It was a deeper sound than the others, to scare the enemy. This made the infantry move to let the cavalry charge. The enemy trumpets also rang. Screams from each side started to resonate all around the field. 

As planned, she went in direction of the lancers in the right flank. The horses ran as fast as they could. Most of her regiment managed to avoid the first volley of arrows. With this incredible precision, these were probably shot by Bernadetta and her archers. Nevertheless, it did not stop them. They were still going at full speed to the side even with all the arrows flying in their direction.

The lancers were in sight. They were far more than what was planned; Ari tightens her fingers around her axe, ready for the confrontation. ‘This will all be over soon.’ she thought.

She was the first to strike a fatal blow to one of the enemies. They were no challenge to her strength. Some of the lancers were equipped with Horseslayer but it was not a big use against her. Blood was spurting over her armour, even going through the opening of her helmet. 

Screams could be heard from both sides. Ari did not care about them, she would continue fighting until she would hear her next order given through the war trumpets. Magic spells were cast all around them, some would even hit her fellow troopers with a fatal blow. Her regiment was very sensitive to magic, that was one of the many reasons, she was hoping to be on the other side of the field than Hubert von Vestra. 

She finally heard the trumpets. She hold her horse, agitated her axe, trying to lead her regiment further in the battlefield, they have to quickly gain the healers to incapacitate them. Her regiment was divided as she left some of them to finish the lancers; they would join them later once finished. 

She could feel that her horse was getting scared of the noise and the spells flying around. Or maybe was she the one scared. 

She spotted the first healer. He was trying to save some of the lancers she just had injured. With an axe blow, his head fell off his shoulder. 

Right after that, some mages appeared all around them. Ari could see that even if they had a certain advantage with their magic, all of them were scared of her presence. She laughed, the stronger she could to assert her dominance on the field. Some of the mages ran away because of this gruesome view: the bloody Butcher of Faerghus screaming like a mad dog, ordering her troop to slaughter everything around them. 

Ari charged some mages and with her blade, slaughtered them so they could not cast any magic anymore. Once cavalry gets close enough to mages, they cannot escape. Some volley of arrows were still landing around her. She looked in their direction, there were a group of archers that got separated from the rest. Ari led the way to them as the other cavaliers followed. 

‘These archers had no way out now.’ she thought, while a grin drew itself on her face. 

However, Ari recognised among them, the violet hair of one of her former classmate of the academy.

‘Bernie…’ Ari let her name slip between her lips in a sigh. 

She got closer in no time, even if they were running in the opposite direction. She started to attack the slower one, trying to spare her ancient friend by allowing her some more time to flee. From the corner of her eye, she saw one of her troop galloping straight to Bernadetta. She rushed in her direction to stop him. 

Bernadetta had fallen on the ground when Ari arrived and rammed against the other horse. This made the other cavalier fall. This could be considered as high treason by her whole squad. She did not know what crossed her mind, but she could not come to terms with her former friend dying like that. They used to be so close, and now she would not even recognise her on the battlefield because of the heavy armour she was wearing. 

Their eyes met, Bernadetta was petrified from the sight of the Butcher Knight of Faerghus. She could not understand what has just happened in front of her. Did the Knight save her? She managed to get up even if she was bruised from her fall. 

‘Run! Now!’ screamed the armoured Knight on her gigantic horse. 

Ari could not believe what she had done, she spared the life of an enemy in the most crucial battle. And because of that, she did not see the dark figures appearing from behind her regiment. A sinister laugh resonated behind her. 

‘We finally are face to face, Butcher…’ said the threatening voice. 

She felt magic around her rising, and a strange feeling crossed her whole body. Almost as if deadly electricity was in the air. 

‘Not you…’ she muttered inaudibly under her helmet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there ! Be patient, Hubert arrives very soon in the next chapter where it will be with his pov! Looking forward to publish it!


	2. Sinister Encounter (Prologue)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The battle from the POV of Hubert. Bernadetta is in a dire situation with the Butcher Knight charging at her and her archers. Hubert is sent by Edelgard to protect her.
> 
> A duel in between the Knight and the Dark Mage follows. (depiction of blood and violence)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! Thank you to have read the first chapter! This one is in Huberts' POV. I hope you will like it! I had great fun to write it! I was listening to two songs from Des Rocs - Used to the Darkness and Let me Live/ Let me Die if it can help you settle a mood. Otherwise any songs you listen when reading about battles!
> 
> Please comment If I need to correct anything! 
> 
> Hope you will enjoy reading this chapter!

### Chapter II – Sinister Encounter

The strategy from the Holy Kingdom was obvious in Hubert’s opinion. They would always send the heavily armoured knights against their infantry. Most of them were on horses and this gave them a strategic advantage as they could cover more ground. Moreover, with their massive armours, some of them had the reputation to be invincible.

He was at his post, protecting Lady Edelgard not too far away with his spells, as always. She did not need any protection, however, it was his principal role as her stalwart servant. He used his distance advantage to destroy warriors coming into their way.

Most of the other members of the Black Eagle were already fighting the Holy Kingdom. Caspar was in the front line with his soldiers, leading the way. Petra was following very closely and Ferdinand was charging with his horsemen. Linhardt, Dorothea and Bernadetta were operating from the height of the field, to keep their range advantage. Bernadetta was on the right, shooting a volley of arrows to the cavalry regiment. Linhardt was saving anyone who needed help with the other healers. 

Some other members of the Officers Academy had joined their cause and were fighting along with them, even some of the former professors. This was all for the greater good. Byleth was fighting alongside Edelgard. After five years, she came back like a miracle and was fighting with them, and this gave them a certain advantage over the Holy Kingdom. Hubert was confident of their strategy, however, everyone was still risking their lives for the cause. Even if the Empire had more power in his opinion, some of their regiments were getting in danger. Hubert could observe Felix and his men, slaughtering everything on their way. Sylvain was also causing trouble on the battlefield with his cavalry regiments. And they also had powerful Magic users and archers like Annette and Mercedes.

The lancers on the right flank were getting charged by one of the cavalry regiment led by the Butcher Knight of Faerghus. This ruthless warrior had a bad reputation amongst their troops. Hubert had heard of him many times from rumours reported from the battlefield. The nickname was unoriginally given as he took no prisoners and would slaughter everyone that crossed his way supposedly. As nobody had seen his face, it created insane rumours. Once, he heard from a soldier that the Knight was created by the Church of Seiros itself to punish the Empire. The Dark Mage tried to have him assassinated a few times. Before the last battle, he managed to bribe a squire from the Kingdom to sabotage his equipment and saddle. The Knight survived the bad fall to Hubert’s dismay. 

He was thinking about a plan to stop his progress on the battleground. His thoughts were quickly interrupted by the Empress.

‘We cannot lose any more troops’ life today Hubert!’ she screamed as the sounds of the weapons clashing against the armours were so loud. 

‘Bernadetta seems in a dangerous position right now, the Butcher Knight is getting closer to her side with half of his regiment.’ agreed Byleth.

‘We have to save her, but we cannot stop to move forward.’ said Edelgard, torn upon Bernadette’s life and their victory. 

‘I will take care of the matter myself if it’s your command. You both have to concentrate on defeating Dimitri.’ answered Hubert.

‘Once you have beaten him, all the other regiments will fell apart and victory will be all yours.’ he added as his yellow eyes were already looking like he had a confident plan. 

‘We will move into the battle. We are getting very close to the Kingdom’s camp on the other flank.’ asserted Byleth while clenching her sword. ‘We are so close…’ said Edelgard as she grabbed Byleth’s hand to run further into the massacre. 

Hubert covered their steps with his spells so they could continue their path safely. Even if he seemed sinister and that he did not have any feelings, he was getting worried for Bernadetta and he shouted orders at some of the mages so they could slow down the Butcher Knight’s progress. He hurried his men to go the faster they could as she would be doomed if she was pursued by this faceless monster. However, his first duty was to protect Lady Edelgard and he could not convince himself to let her go without any protection. 

He knew he was sacrificing these mages so he could save some time and keep supporting Edelgard before leaving to follow her command. They were an obligatory and meaningless loss if he wanted to fulfil his duty and yet still obey. 

Once he could not cast any more spell as they were too far away, he hurried where Bernadetta was to accomplish the Empress's wish with the rest of his squad. They walked through some woods near the right flank to stay undercover. He had only the advantage with his magic if he kept his distance. Getting too close and unprepared was the perfect way to lose the duel. He also hoped the element of surprise would help him as he had used already a lot of energy on spells earlier. Hitting the Knight with a critical blow was the only solution to… well not die foolishly while trying to save his ally. 

He saw some of the mages he had sent running in towards him, clearly to save their life. ‘Pathetic…’ he muttered, his eyebrows were frowning to this despicable view. 

Hubert eliminated them as cowards were no use in a battle. This act of high treason was intolerable in the Empire. Hubert finally arrived with his mages near the Knight and his cavalry. He finally saw the beast in action. No hesitation could be seen in his axe blow. He massacred his troops that stayed in an instant and he was now charging to Bernadette and her archers. 

The Knight was slaughtering the ones that were left behind. He was getting closer to Bernadette. However, he was not chasing after her. This was a very odd strategy in Hubert’s opinion: if he defeated her immediately, the rest of the unit would never last alone. 

Hubert was puzzled by his choice, he would have thought that a Great Knight would have some strategic training, at least some essentials. Moreover, something unexpected happened. The Knight charged its very own soldier when this one was going to attack Bernadetta. Almost as if he was protecting her from a certain death. ‘This must be a trap.’ he thought while observing the scene. 

Bernadetta managed to get up and the Knight ordered her to run. Fear and incomprehension could be seen on her face. 

Hubert was sceptical of the whole scene. ‘Was he going to hunt her down like an animal?’ this sick thought crossed his mind and to obey Edelgard’s orders, he rushed immediately out of the woods, preparing his spell. This was the perfect moment, the Knight seemed occupied by Bernadetta and did not even saw him slither behind them. His laugh started to resonate around the field as his spell was ready, the energy was cumulating all around them. 

Dark spikes went straight in direction of the Knight, hitting him as he was turning to see who emitted this gruesome sound. This spell was perfect against cavalry unit, the spikes hit in the soft spots and the opening of the armour like the neck, and articulation of the Knight. This made his horse panic and he started kicking around to escape its fate. 

Hubert was very confident of his victory now. None of his enemies had escaped this spell before, moreover, with this accuracy, the Knight received it in its full force. The rest of the cavalry regiment was already defecting as Hubert’s mages were launching spells at them. 

Hubert was laughing to celebrate his victory as he saw the body of his enemy hit the ground and his horse ran away, scared for his life. The sound of the armour made when it impacted the earth and rocks was pleasing to his ear. 

He turned his back to see his mages scaring the cavaliers away. Without their leader, they were nothing. He moved away in the other direction but, he heard Bernadetta screams immediately. ‘He is still alive Hubert!’ her high-pitched voice resonated around the field. 

The Knight was painfully getting up, helping himself with his long axe. Blood was trickling from the plates’ openings of his armour. He struggled to stand and was supporting himself with his weapon. He removed the lower part of his helmet to spit some blood on the ground. Some growls could be heard, he was clearly in deep pain. He grabbed a flask from his satchel and drank it in one gulp. It was an elixir obviously as the warrior regained health while letting a bloodcurdling scream out. This vision disrupted Hubert feeling of victory. And before Hubert could cast another spell, the axe-wielder was charging full speed at him, roaring like a monster. He tried one of his quicker enchantment, but the warrior jumped and avoided it easily, while still approaching himself dangerously of the Dark Mage. 

His scream was heard by his whole regiment who immediately came back to attack the mages that were left. Their confidence was rising again as their leader was back on his feet, ready for a second round.

Hubert was in great danger, but his face was showing no emotion, even if the Butcher was getting close enough to land a blow that would definitely kill him. His heavy armour did slow him down a bit, but his movement was still fluid and strong enough to eliminate the Dark Mage in one attack if it landed perfectly. 

The Dark Mage was trying to take some distance to cast another spell and keep him the further he could. But it was no use, the Knight was lunging at him, holding his axe over his head. Hubert jumped to avoid the hit and plunged on the side. He quickly cast a spell as the warrior left an opening, however it hit his axe and propelled it far away. 

Hubert was on the ground and tried to get himself up rapidly, while the Butcher was walking at him. 

‘You always fought dirty… you sycophant maggot.’ exclaimed the Knight, while drawing his sword.

‘I don’t recall to have fought you before.’ said Hubert while quickly getting up and preparing his spells. 

‘You don’t even remember me, do you?’ asked the warrior while tightening the grip of his sword. He ran towards Hubert, not letting him even the time to think about his question. He grabbed his sword with his two hands and slashed at his enemy. 

The Dark Mage avoided part of the attack by leaping in the opposite direction. The blow still managed to cut through his light armour, even through the skin, leaving his chest exposed with blood dripping. He would not survive another attack like this without any protection. He had to react quickly if he wanted to survive this confrontation.

He used his banshee spell to immobilise the enemy so he could save himself from his fury. The Knight could not move for a few seconds, which allowed Hubert to run in direction of his troops. Bernadetta was able to run to safety, he accomplished Lady Edelgard’s order and would not risk his life any longer. There was no point in that. 

However, he was now circled by the three members of the cavalry regiments. One of them threw ahead at his feet. It belonged to one of his mages. 

Hubert’s face was showing indifference to the dire situation. He actually was annoyed more than scared. 

Getting killed by low-class knights to save one of the black eagles was definitely not part of his plan.

He also could hear the armour of the Butcher behind which indicated that he was approaching. 

Suddenly, the Kingdom’s War trumpets started to resonate over Gronder Field. At this moment of the battle, this only meant one thing. 

He started laughing uncontrollably. His face was distorted due to the exaggerated grin on his face. 

‘Lady Edelgard and Byleth have gained your camp. You should join your King quickly… to witness his fall.’ said Hubert with a smile on his face. 

The three cavaliers without any concern for their leader fled immediately the battlefield. 

Hubert turned around immediately to witness the Butcher Knight only a few steps away. 

‘And what are you waiting for to flee for your life? I am certain you will find a horse before I can destroy you.’ exclaimed Hubert.

‘I will make you implore for my mercy, you fool.’ He spat blood on the ground again. Even with the elixir, he was definitely still suffering from the deep cuts the spell had slashed on his skin. 

‘Do we know each other? Have I killed your family or something similar?’ asked Hubbert as the Knight’s seemed to take this fight personally.

The Knight took the upper hand by plunging furiously at the Dark Mage, without letting him any time to prepare a spell. He pushed him on the ground with his foot. His enemy lunged on him and pressed over his body with his full armour. Hubert had not enough energy left to wrestle against the warrior’s weight upon his chest.

The Butcher grabbed his tomes and throw them on the side. 

‘You are nothing without your magic, aren’t you?’ said the opponent while laughing, gloating of his certain victory. 

The Knight hold the sword over his head. 

A few seconds passed without anything happening. The time seemed so long for Hubert at this exact moment, waiting for the fatal blow of his enemy to land. All of a sudden, The Knight let a bloodcurdling scream out and drove his sword in the Dark Mage’s right shoulder. 

Hubert let out a screech from the pain the sword caused. 

The warrior got up, removing his sword from his opponent’s body, leaving the defeated foe on the ground, alive. This allowed Hubert to breathe properly again, even if the pain was immobilising him at the moment. 

The Knight pointed his sword at his face while looking at him. 

Hubert could not think of any good reason for the Knight to spare his life. The Kingdom was losing, however, not killing him would not change his fate. He was still going to get slaughtered by the Empire later as that’s what they did to treat and enemy like him. 

The Butcher Knight turned his back away, looking into the direction of his camp.

Hubert closed his eyes as he suffered greatly from his injury, taking long deep breaths to stay calm. 

Suddenly, he felt lighter, he knew this feeling. Linhardt was closed and used a spell to heal him. Bernadetta must have searched for him when the situation became too dire. He opened his eyes, looking for his tomes that were only a few feet away. 

‘I must act quickly…’ he thought.

He rolled while getting up and run in direction of his spellbooks. The Knight immediately reacted and ran after him. His sword was going to hit him, however, he got projected on the side. One of Bernadette’s arrow was planted in his shoulder. Hubert turned his head to see both of his saviours running in his direction. 

He approached his foe’s body that was laying on the side and pushed him with his foot. The arrow broke from the weight of the armour hitting the ground. The Knight was now on his back, and Hubert was scrutinizing him. He pushed the opening of his helmet to reveal the lower part of his face, covered with blood. ‘Any last words, Butcher Knight of Faerghus?’ asked the Dark Mage. 

The Knight gargle some words, trying to talk but there was too much blood in his mouth. 

‘Pathetic creature…’ said Hubert and without any hesitation, cast his spell Mire on his defeated opponent to finish him. 

‘Hubert, are you all right?’ asked Linhardt while arriving. 

‘Leave me alone, I must join Lady Edelgard.’ he answered without any hesitation.

‘Well, you are welcome, Hubert. And you are in no condition to continue fighting. I will finish healing you before you do anything.’ 

‘I said leave me alone.’ his eyes were scrutinising the corpse of the Knight he just had defeated. 

‘Aren’t you curious who it can be? It was extremely odd what happened today.’ asked Bernadetta while approaching the Knight, very cautiously. Almost as if she was scared to wake him up. 

‘Not at all, he must just have some revenge to take upon me for killing his family or any non-sense.’ He answered with disdain. 

‘Yes… But he did spare me during the battle, and there is no explanation to that…’

‘Do what you want. I am joining Lady Edelgard, she needs my help.’ he exclaimed while walking in direction of the Kingdom’s camp. 

He already had walked a few steps when he heard Bernadetta scream behind him. 

‘Hubert!’, she cried as something was clearly upsetting her. He returned on his step, annoyed by the scene she was causing over what was probably of no importance.

Bernadetta was near the revealed head of the Knight.

His eyes were analysing what made her scream and he quickly recognised the face that was under the helmet.

‘This is impossible…’, he muttered, as he stood frozen over the body. 

‘It’s… It’s Ariana…’, whispered Bernadetta. 


	3. The Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How Hubert and my OC, Ari met in the academy. As this chapter is in my OC POV, I preferred to take the time to introduce Hubert. However, he does appear at the end and some mischief and awkward situation will happen! (He basically eats dirt? just putting this here...)
> 
> There are some training day, friendship building with some of the black eagle and teachers. 
> 
> I also changed how the Academy works. Nothing that would change the original story, I was just inspired by all the side characters and warriors that fight along and they also need to train. But I explain it in the beginning.
> 
> I really try to respect the character's personality, tell me what you think of it! I really want to progress!

### Chapter III – The beginning

‘Welcome to Garreg Mach all of you! It’s a brand new year, and we are all thrilled and proud to greet you in our Officers Academy.’

Ari was too far in the crowd to see who was speaking to them. She was looking at all the people around her. They were two groups: the nobles, the one who paid for the school, already in adjusted uniforms. They were going to train to become leaders or any high ranking position. And the other ones who were enlisted to become soldiers, mages, and cavaliers of lower rank under The Knight of Seiros command. She was part of the later one. 

Nobody could have earned enough money to pay for her tuition fees, however, she needed to become a soldier, to be able to protect her village from mercenaries and other treats someday. ‘Welcome to Garreg Mach all of you, it’s a brand new year, and we are all thrilled and proud to greet you in our Officers Academy.’

Ari was too far in the crowd to see who was speaking to them. She was looking at all the people around her. They were two groups: the nobles and the one who paid for the school, already in adjusted uniforms and the others were going to train to become leaders or any high ranking position. And the others who were enlisted to become soldiers, mages, and cavaliers of lower rank under The Knight of Seiros command. She was part of the later one. 

Nobody could have earned enough money to pay for her tuition fees, however, she needed to become a soldier, to be able to protect her village from mercenaries and other treats someday. They were three Houses in the School: the Blue Lion, the Golden Deer and the Black Eagle. Only the first group was divided in between them as the second group was serving and training for the Church of Seiros. 

‘Now, for the three Houses, we will let you meet your teachers and each other. They will also help you to get to know your new home!’ said the same voice. They all immediately left in rank; this made them a bit more space to spread out which allowed Ari to finally see the person who was speaking at them all. 

It was Lady Rhea herself who was welcoming them. Alongside her, was a serious man and a young girl. The three of them had green hair of different shades. 

‘I will now leave you with your captain, Alois Rangeld! I wish you a great time at the academy, and if you need anything, never hesitate to come and talk to any of us, we want this to be your new home for the duration of your training.’

A man in heavy armour stepped forward as he started talking.

‘Thank you, Lady Rhea, for introducing me! You can all call me Captain when on the training grounds, however outside, please call me Alois. I am so happy to see all your new faces! Some of you may already know what their specialities are but we are still going to test you to spread you and help you become your better self! Fighting for the Church is a great honour, don’t let us down! We want to teach you discipline but also generosity and give you the spirit of comradeship!’ exclaimed the man with an enormous smile on his face. ‘Now, follow me to the training ground!’ he added while leading the way.

Ari knew that she had absolutely no gift in magic nor archery and that is why she wanted to become a warrior. She only received some basic lessons in fighting, nevertheless, it never prevented her from picking fights with anyone who bothered her. She was mostly relying on her motivation and her resourcefulness. 

‘We will lend you used equipment until you earn your own armour from your talent and the courage you will show during your training.’ said Alois while some soldiers where distributing armour plates depending on the physiognomy of the student in front of them. 

Some of the soldiers were explaining how to put them over their black uniform. It was clearly not enough protection for a real battle.

Ari received hers, they were a bit bigger than her actual size. They were made out of metal and leather and had clearly been used by a lot of people before her. The smell was horrible and there was dried bloodstain all over them. She did not think of herself particularly as a delicate flower but this was too disgusting, even for her. However, as everyone was putting them on, she did the same, not without any struggle. The straps on the back were impossible to attach alone. She found someone near her so they could help each other. 

They were maybe sixty recruits, but they all knew that for the first few months, it was nor really useful to make a lot of friends as half of them would leave as the training was too hard or dangerous. It was still not an excuse not to be nice and support each other. 

The session started, they all were expected to try all the weapons, even when they knew they would not specialise in their handling. So it was with apprehension that she picked up a bow and some arrows. She was waiting for her turn behind a few other students. 

When her turn arrived, she tried her hardest to aim at the target. As she expected it was without any success. She could hear some laughs coming from behind her. She sighed. 

‘Such a fantastic start of the year.’ she thought as she left her bow and arrow. 

‘Don’t be too hard on yourself, we will find what will be the best weapon for you young lady!’ said Alois while looking at her with a sincere smile. 

Ari already liked him. He was such a positive soul. She was generally fond of people who were frank and honest. It was easier to communicate with them. 

She walked to the next trial: sword-wielding. They would fight against a wooden mannequin. Some soldiers showed them different attacks and they had to reproduce them with the mannequin. She was a bit reassured, as some of the others seemed as bad as her. Others were already way better and were laughing and judging the rest of them. 

‘I am seeing some good motivation all around!’ shot the Captain to encourage them. 

Ari was getting frustrated. Her physical condition was not as good as she thought. She was already getting tired as most of the others were still showing off their skills. She grunted a bit and forced herself to continue. Sweat was drooling on her face as the exercises were going on. It went on for a while, they had a lot of demonstrations of technics from the soldiers and Alois. 

After a small break at lunch where they quickly ate some bread and cheese that was offered to them, they resumed the training with axe-wielding exercises. The first axe the soldiers gave her was too heavy for her to handle and she heard some chuckles when she asked for another one. Everyone was way more competitive than she would have thought. 

She already progressed a bit since the morning, but it was clearly not as fast as she wanted. She was getting frustrated as she kept doing the same mistakes while holding the axe. It was maybe not going to be her favourite weapon. 

They also tried some exercises with lances. It was better than the axe as it was lighter but it was very hard to inflict precise hits. She was getting exhausted; she could feel all of her muscles aching. 

‘The first day will be over soon! You have done amazing progress in a few hours! I cannot wait to see what wonders you will make during the next few months!’ said Alois with a huge smile on his face. 

‘Now for the final exercise, I want you to duel by two, using the few technics you learned today!’ 

Ari was not pleased when she heard these words. She was already drained and was not looking to confront another student, some of them looked already very fierce. She got paired with someone quite taller than her and bulkier. They prepared themselves a bit. 

‘Want to make that more interesting?’ he said with a snarky smile on his face. ‘The one who loses has to do a hundred push-ups.’ he added. 

Ari was not at all ready for this, but she did not want to seem like a coward in front of him. She was getting more in the competitive mindset and agreed to the bet.

All the students started to duel. Some of them lost immediately to their opponent. 

She managed to parry a few of her adversary hits and to also attack him, but it was not too long after the beginning that he managed to disarm her. He used his strength advantage to push her and that made her lose the grip of her sword. She fell on the ground.

‘We did not learn that today!’ she cried out while looking up at him.

‘Well, life is unfair.’ he answered while shrugging his shoulders and laughing at her.

She was trying to get up, yet her muscles were aching too much for her to move anymore. The other student reached his hand out to help her get up.

‘My name is Elliot, by the way, and you?’ he said while pulling her up.

‘Ariana, but you can call me Ari.’ she answered as she was almost fully up again. 

‘Well Ari, you should probably stay on the ground for your hundred push-ups.’ he added while releasing her hand. This made her fall on the ground again. She will definitely have bruises on her bum. 

‘Jerk.’ She muttered while sighing. 

‘What did you say? I did not hear you well?’ he asked while laughing at the view of her on the ground again. It was starting to cause a commotion as some other students were looking at their feud. 

‘I said Jerk.’ she insisted while frowning at him. Her red eyebrows were getting closer to her eyes the more he was laughing. 

She got exasperated by the noise he was making and impulsively, kicked him in the ankles to make him fall. She had already been in enough fights to know where to hit to hurt someone. The blow took him down next to her.

‘Well, now that you have joined me you should do some push-ups too.’ she joked at him. He had fallen badly on his face and his nose was bleeding from hitting the ground. 

More students were around them at this point, and Alois had to broke the crowd and separate them so they would not start fighting again. 

‘This is no comportment you should be showing to your fellow comrades. Especially not on your first day here.’ scolded the captain. 

‘But she started it, I tried to help her to get up and she lashed out at me.’ Elliot was moaning as blood was drooling from his nose, covering his face and staining his clothes. Ari rolled her eyes at the scene he was making. 

‘You will stay with me to clean the equipment and tidy everything up for tomorrow young lady.’ Alois was actually capable to be angry, thought Ari.

‘But, he is the one who…’ she tried to explain. 

‘I don’t want to know. Now everyone can go to their room. Dinner is served when the bell is ringing.’ he interrupted. 

Everyone was leaving the training ground. Elliot who was still bleeding was going out with a huge grin on his face while looking at Ari who was staying behind. ‘You still owe me a hundred push-ups.’ he said at the doorstep. 

It took thirty minutes to put all the equipment back in their boxes. Alois seemed to have calmed down and was actually doing telling terrible jokes and laughing at them. 

‘What’s your name? I am terribly bad at remembering them normally, but you have already shown off enough that I know that I will. I mean… not in a good way obviously.’ He asked while chuckling. Ari answered and she was happy that he was not too upset with her. She did felt bad for a moment, not because of what she did, this she was proud of, but she did not want to disappoint her teacher. 

‘I still have to do a hundred push up. Elliot did a bet for the duel and I lost… Would you just mind stay five more minutes to be the witness? So I don’t need to redo them tomorrow in front of him.’ She preferred to do them in front of Alois, while she could barely stand up because of the exhaustion than tomorrow in front of Elliot.

‘Oh, so that’s why you pushed him on the ground!’ He exclaimed while Ari was already on the floor, starting her exercise painfully. 

‘No, not really. I did not mind losing the bet. But he faked to help me get up and made me fall. So I tackled him.’ she answered, still struggling to get up and down. Her arms were aching so much that she was shaking. 

‘Hmm. Well then maybe he deserved to have fallen on his face. And you can be proud to have made a guy from his size fall on the ground so easily.’ he said while stroking his moustache. ‘But don’t tell anyone I said that. I don’t want people to start up fights for puerile reasons every day.’ he quickly added while gently chuckling. 

Ari finished her exercise and thanks to her professor. She was in a happier mood than when the class finished. 

‘I can tell, you will do great things in the Academy. But the friends you make here will last for a lifetime. Try not to kill anyone before the end of the year, maybe? See you tomorrow, Ari!’ He left with a smile on his face. 

Ari was going in the direction of her room to change from her training clothes and clean herself a bit. All the students were eating in the dining hall, if she ran there quickly, she would still probably the time to grab a plate. Her stomach was growling at this thought. 

She arrived in the corridor leading to her room when she heard someone sob near her. She looked around to find a violet hair girl crouched in a corner. She was covering her face with her hands. Ari got closer and sat beside her without her noticing. She gently stopped crying and uncovered her face. She let a soft scream escape her mouth of surprise.

‘… what are you doing here?’ she asked while she started to sob even louder. 

‘I did not want to scare you… sorry… I saw you cry and I wanted to see if everything was all right. My name is Ariana, but you can call me Ari. And what’s your name?’ The first day was tough for everyone, and Ari was not going to let someone cry alone in a corridor like that.

The other girl hesitated a bit before answering.

‘I am Bernadetta…’ She said while sniffling. 

‘You know that you are the nicest student I have talked to today?’ added Ari immediately.

‘Well… actually… you too.’ She kept sniffling.

‘You are not much of a talker, are you? I am sorry I don’t have any handkerchief for you.’

‘I am not really comfortable around people, I am sorry. And… hum my father doesn’t like me to hang out with commoners…’ the violet girl added, her sobs were fading away slowly until she realised what she had just said.

‘Oh no I am so sorry, I did not intend to call you a commoner. You are so stupid Bernie!’ she repeated the last bit a few times until she was calm again. 

Ari laughed. Such a particular person was in front of her. 

‘I know for sure that I already like you! And I am not a commoner if that can reassure your father.’ said Ari to who she knew was going to be her new friend. 

‘Ho. Then why are you not training with us?’ she had completely stopped crying at this point and seemed to enjoy the conversation. 

‘My father was a Lord and had an affair with my mother. He recognised me and help me with my basic education and expanses. His wife discovered my existence before I entered the Academy. She refused that he paid anything more and my mom could not afford for my training… but I still need to become stronger… to protect her and my village.’ she answered in all honesty. 

Bernadette seemed to be thinking about her response. She frowned her eyebrows a bit.

‘So… why were you crying? If you don’t want to answer, please feel that you can.’ asked the ginger hair girl. 

‘Oh. Hum. Please don’t laugh. I got overwhelmed by the dining hall. They were so many people around. I wanted to eat in my room but they didn’t allow me…’ she said while staring into nowhere. 

‘I get that. I like being around people I know and I like. And why did you end up in this corridor? It’s not close to the noble’s rooms at all.’ Ari was trying to get up as the floor was getting too hard for her. She had forgotten for a while that she was exhausted and starving. 

‘I…I lost myself…’ answered Bernadetta while pouting. 

Ari let a laugh out. She could not control it. 

‘It’s not funny. This place is enormous and it’s my first day.’ Bernadetta was getting flustered.

Ari hesitated about her answer because she knew that the dining hall was going to close very soon. However, she could not leave her new friend in the complete opposite direction than where she was supposed to be. 

‘Would you like me to help you find your room?’ she asked while reaching her hand out to help the other girl stand up. 

She didn’t even need to answer. Ari leads the way as they were still chatting about their respective day. 

‘So you managed to make this student fall on the ground, get punished and made friend with your teacher in only a few hours?’ exclaimed Bernadetta with her eyes wide open.

‘Well, it’s nothing impressive… I always tend to get into fights…easily…’ answered Ari a bit embarrassed of her response. 

‘I would have loved to stand up like that today. Or maybe not. But there is the heir of the Empire and her vassal in my class and they are so … impressive and powerful already. Actually, Hubert is terrifying me… I don’t know if I could even talk to them.’ 

‘I don’t stand up to everyone… just the one that gets on my nerve enough so I snap. I can teach you if you want.’ She said while laughing. 

Ari felt happy that she met someone as nice as Bernie on her first day. 

They arrived in front of her door and Ari’s stomach let out the loudest growl possible. 

‘Have you not eaten?’ asked Bernadetta as Ari was ashamed. 

‘Well, I was going to get something to eat when I found you… And I did not want to leave you alone so…’ she could not finish that the other girl started crying again. Ari comforted her and reassured her by saying that she wasn’t really hungry and she still had some biscuits in her room. It was a lie, but she wanted Bernie to have a good night of sleep and not worry too much over nothing. They wished each other a good night and Ari went back straight to her room. She cleaned herself up a bit with a cloth and some water in a bucket. She hoped that she could take a bath soon. She got herself under her blanket. Her muscles were killing her from the pain, she knew they were going to be sore in the morning. She finally managed to fall asleep. However, she got up with the sunrise because of hunger. 

She laid in bed for a few minutes. Her whole body was in pain, nevertheless, she needed to eat something quickly. She got up and dressed up for the day and went in direction of the dining hall, hoping it was already open and serving food. 

When she arrived there, gladly the breakfast was already prepared. She got herself a plate full of pastries, fruits and some tea. She was going to sit in the first chair she could find, however, she saw another student sitting already and sipping on a hot beverage all alone. She thought about what Alois told her about making friend during her time at the Academy so she decided to walk to him. 

He was quite a sinister view to see this early in the morning. He had black hair that was covering his face. His piercing yellow eyes were looking into his books and letters. 

‘May I sit with you?’ Ari brought up the courage to ask him. 

He looked up to her, almost as if he was analysing her. 

‘I do not socialise if not required by Lady Edelgard or if the circumstance forces it. I am drinking my coffee and don’t want to be disturbed while doing it.’, he answered in the coldest way possible. No inflexion could be heard in his voice. He returned quickly to his lecture, not bothered that Ari was standing up in front of him. 

‘There is absolutely not any chance that this is not the terrifying student Bernadetta told her about yesterday.’ She thought while still contemplating at this dark creature. ‘Are you awake now? Or do I have to repeat myself?’ he added while continuing to read his book. 

Ari left without saying anything and went to seat a few chairs away. She was fulminating by his behaviour. Nevertheless, she quickly forgot about him once she put some food in her mouth. She ate her first plate in a rush and was still hungry. She got back to the kitchen to ask if she could serve herself a second portion. She was able to grab a few more pastries and some more tea. Once she sat again, more students arrived, also to eat their breakfast. She saw a lot of new faces, from the three houses. At last, Bernie entered the hall. She seemed a bit anxious but she lights up when she saw Ari. She got scared again as she saw that she was eating only a few seats away from the sinister man. However, she still found the courage to grab a plate and seat in front of her new friend. 

The next few weeks went on without any trouble for Ari. She was often chosen for the demonstration by Alois as he did remember only her name. She regularly stayed after the other students on the training ground to improve herself. She was not progressing fast enough in her opinion. Her Captain enjoyed her determination and efforts and promised her that whenever they would go on a not too risky mission, they would bring her along.

They would sometimes share the training ground with the Three Houses and their teachers. Ari was always happy to see Bernadetta, even if she was struggling quite a lot when she was showing up for class. Ari was saddened not to be able to help her with any of her practice as she was no good at archery. But she was trying to support her the best she could. She even convinced her friend to stay up and train a bit longer with her to improve themselves together. Bernie only actually came a few times, but Ari never took it personally and was very happy when she did. She respected her friend’s boundaries. 

Some more weeks had passed, a lot of the recruits had already left the Academy as expected. Alois came back at her about the promise to bring her along during their next quest. In the next few weeks, they would leave with the three Houses’ leaders for a very simple mission. She was so proud to have been chosen over all of the other’s recruits. It was going to be during the Great Tree Moon, it would be a perfect beginning of the New Year, full of great promises. 

She started to train even harder, she would even come on the training ground during her spare time on the weekends. Some other members of the church and the three houses were also practising during this time. She met a few of them because they started to exchange technics and tips. Caspar had started to train regularly with her as well. He helped her to progress in axe-wielding a lot faster than she would have expected. 

The day before her departure with the Knight of Seiros, eight of them got selected for a battle practice with some members of the Black Eagle. The eight students were going to be divided in two, to fight each other. The rest of the recruits would be fighting alongside in smaller groups guided by the strategy of the Black Eagle. 

‘It will be a great experience and occasion to meet some of the Black Eagles. They will learn how to manage troops and you how to react to their orders.’ Alois told them.

Bernadetta’s was on the other team as well as Lady Edelgard, their house leader, Ferdinand, a lancer and Dorothea, a former singer and magic-user. She was happy as she was going to be in the battle with Caspar and Petra. She did saw her a few times during the training and always wanted to see more about her technics as she was from Brigid. Linhardt another student was with them, she never had met him but he did seem not to appreciate the idea of this exercise at all. And the last member was Hubert, this sinister figure. He rapidly took command of their crew. All four of them were assigned a recruit. Ari hoped to be paired with the blue-haired boy as she knew for sure that she was going to have fun and learn a few more things. 

However, she ended up with Hubert. She had not talked to him since the last time in the dining hall and she was not looking forward to creating any social interaction with him. He gave orders to all the different groups. The infantry would be in the front, led by Caspar, Petra and their partners. Hubert would not be too far behind, to cast his spell at the enemy. Lindhart would be on the back, to support them from afar.

‘You will not be doing anything, except to protect me in case any warrior would get too close to Me.’ he said to her while walking into his position. He planned their whole strategy and was very confident about it. 

They were all at their post, waiting for the signal that would mean that the battle had started. She saw the other groups all chatting, as she was just standing beside her partner, wishing the day had already ended. The silence around them was making her uneasy. 

‘So… I am Ari, by the way.’ She said, trying to break the awkwardness she felt. 

‘I know who you are, you disturbed me in my morning routine on the second day.’ he answered unemotionally while gazing into the distance. This response made Ari swallowed any conversation starter she had in mind. 

Everyone was getting ready, encouraging each other’s; there was amazing energy all around. Ari was getting bored, looking at her feet while kicking small pebbles away. She was playing a bit with her wooden shield and sword. They were all using training weapons as it would be too dangerous otherwise. Alois made all the magic users promise to only stun or slow down their foes. She was wondering what kind of Magic Hubert would be using when she noticed that a buckle of her armour was detached in her back. This made one of her shoulder plates move very uncomfortably and it was definitely going to impact on her performance later on. She could not access it easily as the buckle was impossible to reach while her shield was bound to her arm. She was agitating herself when Hubert noticed her weird dance. 

‘May I?’ he asked impassibly. She accepted and felt his fingers running through her back as he pulled the leather strap and tighten her armour. She felt a little constricted as the sinister student has secured it a bit too close. He returned into his position, still looking at the field around them. 

‘Th-Thanks!’ she said, hesitantly. Maybe he was not that terrifying and he was just not comfortable around people, she thought while looking at him. 

‘You will already be pretty useless today. It would be even worse if your equipment was falling from you during the practice.’ His words slashed through any positive thoughts Ari had of him in the last minutes. She did not answer: she wanted to stay out of trouble before her big day tomorrow with the Knights. 

The war trumpet resonated in the whole field, announcing the beginning of the practice. The mock battle started, however, students were taking it pretty seriously; it was their biggest training until now and it would help them get prepared for the end of the month where they would be fighting against the other houses. 

The first rows were already clashing against each other as Ari was looking at them while protecting Hubert. He was casting spells at everyone who was getting too close to him or Linhardt. She was impressed by his accuracy and calm, however, the young warrior was also disappointed as she had no one to face. 

They started to take the upper hand while progressing on the battleground. On the other camp, Bernadetta was doing the best she could, and even if she was quite far away at the beginning, she found the courage to get closer to support her classmates. Ari was very proud of her. 

Hubert took down Ferdinand with the help of Petra and with him the students that were fighting alongside. She was happy to have taken down a student that managed to pass through Hubert's magic. Hubert did not really seem impressed by her performance.

Caspar got defeated by Edelgard as Dorothea was helping her from not far behind. Hubert commented that he was too impatient and charged without having any support. Ari agreed but she did not like her friend to be criticised by him. 

Petra managed to take down Edelgard, only because Hubert defeated Dorothea and that Linhardt reluctantly assisted his teammates. Bernadetta was the last one standing as she had stayed at the back of the field. 

To win the mock battle, they had to defeat all the four champions, so they needed to get closer to her. Ari was getting nervous as Hubert seemed eager to vanquish his classmate. She managed to take down Linhardt and his partner, but Ari suspected him to have gotten hit on purpose, he did not try to avoid the arrow. He seemed to be already sleeping while he joined the others waiting for the training to end. 

Bernie barely stood up, overwhelmed by Petra's and Hubert's arrival. 

‘I… I give up, you are too strong, don’t hurt me. You are always a loser, Bernie.’ She screamed at them while they were approaching. 

‘In a battlefield, you should not surrender, especially when you will be fighting for Edelgard.’ Hubert scolded her, with a dark look on his face, as if he was preparing something. He suddenly cast a spell that directly hit her and paralysed her. 

‘She said stop!’ screamed Ari at the sinister figure. He was not listening to her and was preparing another spell.

Bernadetta was crying and felt on the ground. 

It was enough for her, she jumped in front of Hubert, her shield and sword in position to defend her friend. 

‘She is disarmed and has surrendered, what more do you need?’ shouted Ari, even louder than before. 

‘Disobeying your leader and betraying your team? You are right you belong with your weak friend.’ he exclaimed, while a frightening look crossed his face. 

‘I prefer loyalty of my friends than to fight under your orders.’ she asserted while frowning at his sight. She noticed that Bernadetta, Petra and the other students left in direction of the others. 

‘Well, you know what we do to traitors, you will go eat the ground like the maggot that you are.’

He cast a stunning spell on her which made her felt on the ground. It was the first time she was hit by magic and it was not pleasant. She was lying on her back when he came to her, with a wry smile drawn on his face. 

‘You should definitely deserve a punishment for your high treason.’ he muttered while looking at her. She felt that her limbs could move again. 

All of a sudden, she kicked him in the legs from all the strength she had left which made him fall on his back. She lunged at him and sit on him to prevent any movement by blocking his arms with her legs spread over his chest. She did not want to hurt him but to humiliate him. His attitude towards others was not appropriate. She grabbed some dirt from around. 

‘Tell me who is a maggot, now?’ she screeched at him while pushing some earth on his face. He was trying to liberate himself but it was no use; Ari had locked him down and was not going to release him until he would have eaten some dirt. He was struggling not to make any noise, still trying to stay the noblest he could in this situation. Ari grabbed some more dirt and pushed it on his mouth and she was pretty sure some got in at this point. 

Ari saw from the corner of her eye some students arriving. ’Bernie must have called them to stop the fight.’ she thought. This second of inattention allowed her captive to liberate himself. He stood up rapidly and grabbed his tomes. Ari was looking at him, with a proud grin on her. His face was dirty. He was glowering at her. His yellow and piercing eyes were full of rage, she could see that he was up to something. 

However, she could not do anything before she got projected in the opposite direction. She felt immense pain as her vision faded while hearing Alois screaming to everyone to liberate the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you think of this chapter in the comments and leave a Kudo if you liked it! I had a blast writing it! 
> 
> Next chapter is already in progress and will come out soon! It will be with Hubert's POV and there will be some sweet dialogues!


	4. Consequences (Part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hubert and Ari are punished for their reckless behaviour. However, they did not expect to be doing the tasks together. 
> 
> (The chapter is in two parts, this is happening right before the beginning of the game.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! I had to split the chapter in half as it was too long in my opinion! I enjoyed writing it as I think it's a sweet chapter about how they are starting to get along better and enjoying each other's company.

### Chapitre IV – Consequences (Part I)

‘They did what?’ exclaimed Seteth while he slammed his desk with both hands. 

Alois explained what he had understood of the situation. It was not good for both students: Hubert used a spell that was forbidden during the mock battle and had to send a recruit to the infirmary because the same recruit had attacked him and he quoted what he had heard ‘she made him eat dirt’. 

‘She did what?’ cried out the green-haired figure. He quickly understood what he meant when he looked at the student and saw the lower part of his face. 

Hubert was standing beside the Knight, impassive as he always was. He was still a bit flustered by what had just happened on the training ground. He never had anyone jumped on him like… he had no better description crossing his mind than a ferocious squirrel. The humiliation was nothing concerning, he was more affected by Lady Edelgard’s disappointment. She had asked him to be ruthless during the simulation, so everyone could better themselves. However, he took it too far by lashing at Bernadetta’s and her protector. The latest one deserved it in his opinion, nevertheless, Lady Edelgard was not pleased that her vassal had sent someone to the infirmary without any real reason. 

‘You have to control your recruits Alois, they cannot attack students from Noble families for no reason. And you Hubert, you should know better than to start fights and to use your magic recklessly. You could have badly injured someone.’ stated Seteth as a clear irritation could be heard in his voice. 

‘I am sincerely sorry. This incautious incident will never happen again.’ he said calmly while bowing with his hand placed over his chest. 

Seteth sighed while stroking his beard. He seemed not to trust the sinister figure in front of him. 

‘Well. That’s a beginning, however, you will both be punished. You will be doing chores for the Academy during the next few weekends. This will make you realise how senseless you have acted.’ he explained while seating down at his desk. 

‘And Alois, you will be in charge to convey this information to your recruit.’ He added nonchalantly while getting back into his letters. 

He was walking in the direction of his room to clean himself before joining Edelgard. She was probably eating with some members of the Black Eagle in the dining hall already. His thoughts were still occupied by the ginger-haired recruit. He could still not believe what had happened. ‘Nobody was that fool…’ he thought before he realised that he was in front of the infirmary door. He wondered why he took this path as it was the longest one go to his room from Seteth’s study. However, he stood there for a while. He was unsure why. He turned his back to move along when he saw his violet-haired classmate, poorly hiding behind the corner. He ignored her while passing beside, nevertheless, he was certain he saw her shivered. 

He finally opened his room door. He hated the sensation of being covered in dirt and this made him despise this girl even more. He removed his jacket and took away his shirt. He grabbed a towel, poured some water from a jar in a basin and started to remove the earth that was on his face. He searched for a clean shirt in his closet, put his jacket on and locked the door behind him. Being quick and organised was in his nature; he was not losing time on simple tasks. He went in direction of the dining hall and before arriving there, he found himself in front of the infirmary again. He hesitated for a while, not knowing what he was doing there. However, he entered and stayed in the entrance. 

The infirmary was pretty elementary: there were a few beds, the one occupied had curtains closed around them. He could see the one where the girl he had injured was: her shadow was drawn on the curtains due to the sunset light entering the room. He heard her and Bernadetta discussing, while she was sitting in her bed. 

‘It was such a scary day, I thought he had killed you!’ cried Bernadetta.

‘I am fine, Bernie. I am already feeling a lot better. He will need more than that to do so.’ said the other one while chuckling. 

‘You-ou should not put yourself in danger for me! And now he-he will probably chase you to take his revenge! His eyes and laugh we-were terrifying when he cast his spell on you-ou!’ exclaimed the violet-haired girl as she started to have a small hiccup.

‘I am expecting poison and you? I am pretty certain that he will manage to pour something in my food.’ said the wounded recruit, laughing at Bernie’s reaction to what she just said. 

‘This is not funny! He is a nightmare incarnated!’ screamed Bernadetta to her friend.

‘He was probably summoned from the Darkness by Lady Edelgard to torture our poor souls. There is no other explanation.’ said the bedridden student, this time laughing out loud. Hubert was getting slightly annoyed by her jokes but yet, a wry smile appeared on his face, unknown to him. 

‘I am just concerned to have disappointed Alois. He told me that I will not be able to go tomorrow on the mission…’ her voice lowered, sadness could be heard in her tone. 

‘You should explain what happened to him, I am sure he will understand and forgive you…’ answered Bernadetta. 

‘I am not sure of that… But please Bernie, don’t worry for me. I am still thrilled to have been able to push him on the ground. Is he not less terrifying now?’ her attitude changed completely in the span of her phrase. 

They continued chatting for a bit until the wounded girl’s stomach let a sound out that indicated that she was starving. 

‘I will search some food for you, it’s the Gautier Cheese gratin tonight and for dessert the sweet bun trio! I know it will make you happy!’ exclaimed Bernadetta joyfully.

‘Oh, but can I only have the desert? Like twice? I just want some sweet things right now!’ she insisted on her cravings a few times but Bernadetta was unsure if it would be possible. 

Hubert disappeared unnoticed the moment his classmate started to move. Without a noise, he got out and quickly arrived at the dining hall. He saw Edelgard sitting with a few other Black Eagle’s members. He grabbed tonight’s menu and walked to sit along with her. He heard some laughs erupting from the other houses while he entered, probably laughing about today’s event. 

‘And I thought, you would have chosen a plate of dirt tonight!’ exclaimed Caspar, with a huge smile on his face. Hubert did not even respond to that provocation. 

‘I was getting worried, you took longer than expected Hubert!’ said Edelgard while looking at him. She had already finished her food.

‘I... I had to collect some information. You should not be worried about me, Lady Edelgard.’ He answered while sitting down in front of her.

Hubert was a picky eater, he did not particularly enjoy food. He only ate to sustain his body of anything he needed. He often forgot to eat whenever he was too occupied by his duty, as it was unnecessary in his opinion. 

He ate, silently while his classmates were chatting. Edelgard was excited for her mission of tomorrow. Caspar was always too loud and Ferdinand was annoying as usual, trying to provoke Lady Edelgard.

He left half of his plate. Normally, he did not enjoy dessert and would always give it to someone else. However, today, the trio of buns seemed more appetizing. He tried them, and surprisingly, they were not as bad as he remembered them. ‘Maybe they changed the recipe slightly?’ he thought to himself as he was chewing on the pastry. 

‘You like sweets now? And I thought I could count on you to always give them to me. I will starve from now on.’ exclaimed Caspar while looking at Hubert with his eyes wide opened. 

‘It is extremely unusual Hubert. Are you sure you are alright?’ asked Ferdinand, frowning. 

‘Will you two leave him alone?’ said Edelgard to scold them. She did, however, had that amused look on her face. She was going to ask him about this change in his behaviour later. Hubert did not feel to finish the rest of his dessert after the others’ comments. He left two buns to Caspar. Edelgard got up and was walking in direction of her room as he followed her. They arrived in a corridor, where they were the only students present. 

‘Hubert? What happened today on the battlefield?’ she asked while they were still walking. This question burned her lips in the dining hall the whole time, but she did not want to embarrass him in front of the others. 

‘I obeyed your orders to be ruthless with anyone presents. I deeply apologise if I created an unpleasant situation.’ answered the dark student impassively. 

‘Well you did were ruthless during the mock battle, but at the end, you have just managed to traumatise one of our classmate for life and to send someone in the infirmary. And I am not even sure to know who she was.’ exclaimed the white-haired lady to the dark figure walking alongside her.

‘Her name is Ariana. I have managed to collect only a few information about her yet. She was supposed to join you and the others on your next mission, obviously because of the incident, she will not. She does seem to possess some talent and she is appreciated by Bernadetta and some other students.’ he answered impassively. 

‘Well, she did manage to throw you on the ground and force you to eat dirt, so she certainly is a bit more gifted than how you are describing her. Is it the reason you ate a pastry at supper? Has she broken you by doing so? ‘a snarky smile appeared on her face.

He did not answer to her remarks. Not because he was upset, he had no explanation for that and it was puzzling him more than he let it appear. 

‘Have you apologised to Bernadetta at least? I have been told that you made her cry. You know that we have to keep a low profile and try to mingle at least a bit with our classmates.’ she added as she suddenly stopped.

‘In my defence, she does seem to panic and cries every time in my presence. I am unsure of how it would be useful. Moreover, I already received punishment for my reckless behaviour.’ he answered, trying to end this discussion. 

‘It’s not the same Hubert! We have to be amiable with our classmate, not terrorise them until they do not show up to the academy anymore!’ Hubert was surprised that she was scolding him for such a foolish incident. However, it was his duty to respect Lady Edelgard’s wishes. He agreed to apologise to both students and closed the discussion. Edelgard looked around her, to verify if they were alone. 

‘On another matter, is everything taken care for the next few days?’ she whispered to her dark servant. 

‘Yes, Lady Edelgard. Everything will go as planned.’ he answered, his yellow eyes were shining.

‘Fine, I will leave you then. You do not need to escort me tomorrow. I have already prepared my equipment, we will see each other again after the weekend. Have a good night Hubert.’

‘Your wish is my command, Lady Edelgard. Sleep well.’ He slightly bowed with his hand placed on his chest. 

He left, going in direction of his room. He had some paperwork to finish before he could go to sleep. Like food, sleep was only to make his body properly function. He woke up with the sunrise, like every day. He needed some time to prepare his day and to sort out Lady Edelgard’s tasks if he had any to do. Today, he wanted to see her departure on their mission. It was a basic camping expedition, however, it was his duty to observe that everything was correctly prepared, from afar as she asked him not to escort her. He dressed up quickly in his uniform, he did not like to lose any time in the morning. 

He walked out of his room with some books under his arm and gained the main gate. He saw the three houses’ leaders chatting all together. He waited until they had left, hiding from behind a pillar. He trusted Lady Edelgard to be well prepared; it was the two others who he doubted about. 

He left his hideout and went directly to the dining hall. He liked this moment, he had the time to drink his coffee peacefully without any of the other students. The only sound around him was coming from the kitchen, where the workers were preparing breakfast. He was able to read his favourite strategic books and to catch on paperwork for at least thirty minutes. However today, it was impossible, his mind was not at peace. Lady Edelgard asked him to present his apologies to the two girls and she would be disappointed if he had not done it before her return. He could not find a way to approach Bernadetta without her fleeing or him worsening the situation. And for the other one, he was not even sure if she would accept his amends. This mission was the first in his life which he knew had almost zero chance to go well. 

He spent his whole free time thinking about strategies and solutions. Students from the Three Houses and recruits from the monastery started to arrive. Ferdinand and Linhardt joined him. Petra and Dorothea arrived soon with their plates full. He saw Ariana entered and immediately went to grab her breakfast. Caspar caught up with her in the queue, and they were laughing together. Probably about yesterday’s event, Hubert thought while observing them. Some students from the other houses joined their discussion. She got patted on the back by Raphael as she was filling her plate with pastries. Sylvain was joyfully joking alongside them. Caspar arrived at the Black Eagle table, with a grin on his face. Hubert noticed that the ginger-haired girl went to sit with the Blue Lions. He never saw her ate with them before as she normally stayed with Bernadetta. It seemed that she gained a very quick celebrity around the other students.

‘I almost got Ari to sit with us, but she preferred to go with the Blue Lions clearly because you were with us, Hubert. They wanted to congratulate her for defeating you yesterday and I had no weight against that.’ said Caspar, while chuckling loudly as he started eating. 

‘Oh, that’s too bad! I wanted to meet her! They are so many stories now. I heard that she managed to throw you on the ground and that they had to be like three including Alois to restrain her from attacking you Hubert!’ exclaimed Dorothea while softly chuckling.

‘Please do not involve me in your childish discussions. Moreover, I did not lose against her, refrain from fuelling these futile gossips. She ended in the infirmary, not me.’ Hubert answered while sipping his coffee. He kept observing her discreetly from the other side of the room. She was laughing at their jokes and taking part in their discussions intensively. Hubert felt annoyed at this whole situation. He did not plan that the events would turn out this way. 

The rest of the week was mostly unpleasant. The lessons were boring since Edelgard was not there. He heard laughs and rumours everywhere he went for a few days. Some of the Blue Lions were chanting that Lady Edelgard’s lapdog had been humiliated. He did not care what they thought, it was mostly getting disturbing as they were relentless. 

The weekend was finally there and this meant that he had to fulfil chores for the monastery as his punishment. He did not have the time for his usual morning beverage as he had to meet up with Seteth to receive the list of tasks he had to accomplish today. The right arm of Rhea was already waiting for him. 

‘Good morning Hubert, and thank you for making me wake up this early during my day off, I hope you will enjoy what we have prepared for you.’ he said as his face showed clear annoyance to this situation. 

‘We just have to wait for your partner to arrive. It will definitely teach you not to fight and hurt others recklessly.’ he added while yawning slightly. 

Hubert was not aware that he was going to spend the entire day with Ariana. He thought that they would be doing different tasks. He did not look forward to their encounter as he was still supposed to apologise for his behaviour during the mock battle. 

She arrived with a pastry in her hand. 

‘Sorry for being late, I had to grab something to eat.’ she excused herself to Seteth. Hubert noticed that she was disgruntled when she saw that he was also there. She was clearly as surprised as him that they would spend the day as punishment partners. 

‘You are supposed to learn discipline with your training, recruit.’Seteth seemed even more annoyed than before. He gave them their tasks for the day, they would start by pulling the weeds around the monastery and finish by taking care of the horses. He would come and check during the day that they were fulfilling their punishment properly. 

They headed in direction of their first chore. She ate her pastry while walking in silence. It seemed that they were at least going to spend the day without talking as clearly none of them wanted to engage in any conversation. 

‘Such a waste of my time…’ thought Hubert while sighing loudly. He did not show his emotions often, however, he was so exasperated that he could not control it. Perhaps was it because he missed his morning routine, he thought. He observed Ariana working, she did not seem to mind pulling the weeds. She caught him looking in her direction, yet, she did not react and continued her job. 

The morning went on slowly, some people passed by to cheer her up. Bernadetta brought her a pastry and fled the moment she noticed Hubert’s dark presence not too far away. Caspar had the same idea, moreover, he was complaining that they were not going to be able to train as usual. He left as Hubert was glowering at him as he did not want to do all the work alone. Ariana smiled at her friend while he left. Hubert saw her grin disappear as she turned in his direction. 

‘Do you want one of them?’ she asked Hubert coldly. 

‘I don’t like sweet food.’ he answered impassively. 

‘Hmm one of them seemed to have less sugar.’ she was checking them intensively. ‘You can try it and if you don’t like it, well… I will finish it.’ she continued while starting to eat the other one already.

‘Would you mind getting back to work?’ he pestered, annoyed by her insistence. 

‘Both my hands are occupied, I will start again once I have finished. You could help me by eating the food I am offering you.’ one of her eyebrows slightly raised as she was looking at him.

‘You think you are the smartest around.’ he was bothered by her stubbornness. 

‘Not really… just that I am pretty sure you have not eaten anything yet as I have not seen you in the dining hall earlier. And I don’t want you to faint. I will without any doubt leave you there and get into more trouble.’ her arm was reached out, holding the pastry to him. He grabbed it nonchalantly, while still thanking her. He did not care about her childish comment. However she was right, he was getting hungry. He turned a bit, and ate the pastry quickly, without much enjoyment. It did fill him up a little bit, enough until midday at least. 

‘You are welcome.’ she chuckled while observing the dark figure. 

They got back to work right after as otherwise, they would need to stay later if they did not finish their chores. Hubert’s legs were starting to ache as he had been crouching for the whole morning. Midday was there and they had finished pulling the weeds. They still had a lot to do so they would not have the time for a lunch break. They went to the stables. If pulling the weeds was bad, this was absolutely worse. Hubert did not feel comfortable around animals as they were unpredictable. Their task consisted to clean the stalls, change the hay, and feed the horses. They would need to speed up if they wanted to finish in time. 

Ariana removed her jacket and rolled up the sleeves of her white shirt and grabbed a shovel. Hubert did not want to think about it, however, he was impressed by her motivation and that she did not complain about the hard work. He imitated her as he left his jacket with hers at the entry. Fortunately, the horses were already in their paddock outside. They started to collect all the dirty hay and manure from the floor to put it in a wheelbarrow each. They would pour it over a pile outside. 

They worked for a while until he heard a growling sound not far from him. He noticed that Ariana had her hand on her stomach and was frowning. 

‘Regretting to have shared your breakfast maybe?’ he asked as she took a break from the hard labour for an instant. 

‘Deeply… but it will be alright, we don’t have the time.’ she chuckled lightly. 

‘The dining hall will soon be closing, if you don’t go now, you will have nothing until tonight.’ he mentioned while getting back to work. 

‘Would you let me go fetch some food?’ she asked as astonishment could be seen on her face.

‘Well. I have two options, if you don’t eat anything, you will work less. And if you leave to eat, there is a slight chance that you will come back and finish the work. The choice is easily made.’ he could barely conclude his sentence that she already had left in a hurry.

‘She is not coming back.’ he thought, still shovelling excrements mixed with hay. 

A moment passed and he heard some noises coming from the entry.

‘Mind helping me?’ Hubert saw his punishment partner struggling with two plates in her hands. He quickly went to wash his hands with some freshwater that was in a bucket near the stalls. He grabbed one of the plates, the cutlery was balancing dangerously on the side.

‘How did you manage to bring food outside of the dining hall?’ he asked with genuine interest as they were sitting down. Hubert had found a small structure so he was not directly on the dirty floor. 

‘I have met Raphael this week, and he liked that I enjoyed eating. So he presented me to the Kitchen’s staff. Once you know how to ask, you can bring food anywhere as long as you bring the plates and cutlery back.’ she answered, without really minding his question as she was already fully absorbed by her food. 

It was the Garreg Mach Meat Pie, one of the few dishes that he enjoyed. They ate in silence, Hubert thought that this moment was not that unpleasant even if they were surrounded by hay, dust and other things.

‘I... I liked how you protected Bernadetta the other day on the battlefield.’ he said, hesitantly. He did not know how to open a conversation with her. She stayed quiet for a bit, finishing to chew her food while looking at him. 

‘I do not socialise if not required, I am eating my food and don’t want to be disturbed while doing It.’ her eyes were cold as she said it. Hubert was startled by her answer for a bit until she burst out in laughter. 

‘I am sorry, I could not resist. I wanted to do that since so long.’ She could not stop giggling as an enormous smile drawn itself on her face. 

‘Fairly played, however now you will not know what I wanted to tell you.’ he answered while finishing his plate. They had wasted enough time and needed to go back to work. He grabbed her empty plate and put them both together near the entry so they would not forget them. They rolled their sleeves back up again and with all the new energy they had, they finished shovelling everything that was left in no time. 

They opened a few hay bales so they could cover all the stales with fresh bedding. Dust was floating all around them, this caused Ariana to sneeze a few times. They finished as fast as they could. They had an hour left to fill the horses’ mangers and troughs as the horses were going to be brought inside then. They shared the tasks, she was carrying buckets of water around, as he was pouring a mix of cereals in the feeders inside the boxes. They managed to finish on time as Seteth arrived to find them exhausted, dusty and sweating. 

‘You did a decent job, you may leave for today. And we will see each other next week.’ he exclaimed while looking around holding his arms behind his back. 

They both left in silence while grabbing their jackets and the plates. They were walking in direction of their respective rooms to clean themselves before supper. They stopped at a junction of corridors as they were going in a separate route. Hubert did not know what to say, he enjoyed his day a little bit more than he had expected.

‘What...What I tried to say before, is that when you jumped in front of Bernadetta it reminded me of how I protect Lady Edelgard. I thought about it and if she was the one in danger, I would also have done anything to save her. I would probably have destroyed you… but I would not have made you eat dirt.’ he said while looking at her. She had still hay in her hair and dust on her face. 

‘You definitely would have made me eat dirt.’ she said as her eyebrows were the higher they could be on her face. 

Hubert let a chuckle out. 

‘So you can be nice and even laugh sometimes? This is the most surprising event of my week you know? And I jumped on you and managed to make you eat some dirt.’ her eyes were wide opened as she was chuckling.

‘It was not a laugh… you’d prefer not to see me laugh. And you did not manage to make me eat any, you just rubbed some on my face.’ he muttered.

Even if she nodded, her face clearly showed that she was unconvinced. Hubert wondered how more annoying she could be and yet a wry smile appeared on him.

‘Well what I was trying to say is that I sincerely apologise for my reckless actions during the mock battle.’ he added, not as confident as he usually was without knowing exactly why.

‘Are you reading a note Lady Edelgard had left you?’ she laughed while looking at him from below. She was quite smaller than him. 

‘She did ask me to apologise, however, I decided of my words.’ he muttered while he was getting irritated by her answer. 

‘Sorry, I am bad with these things. I accept your apologies, and even if I was right to defend Bernie, I should not have made you eat dirt gratuitously.’ she exclaimed, Hubert could decipher her sincerity in her eyes. 

‘Thank you for your help today, Ariana. I have not presented myself properly the other day, you can call me Hubert.’ He bowed while smiling slightly with his hand over his chest showing that he accepted her apologies. 

‘I had a way better day than I expected when I saw you this morning, Hubert. See you later!’ she said with an enormous grin on her face as she left in direction of the dining hall. 

Hubert light smile was still there as he was walking away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did you like it? Tell me what you think in the comments! 
> 
> I like how I portrayed Caspar and Bernadetta in this chapter, what do you think?
> 
> Leave a Kudo if you liked this chapter!
> 
> And Byleth is arriving in the next part as Edelgard and the others will be back from their mission where she saved them!
> 
> Also, it's not because Hubert was impressed by her attitude that it will make him trust her.


	5. Consequences (Part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the immediate follow up to the last chapter! 
> 
> Byleth finally appears and we resume with the events of the start of the game from Hubert's POV. 
> 
> He is very suspicious of this new warrior, and yet he cannot stop thinking how he still upset Ariana every time they speak. 
> 
> He is lost by her comportment and attitude in general. 
> 
> There is a sweet moment between them at the end, however, it's quickly ruined by Hubert coldness. 
> 
> Also, Ariana finally meet all the members of the Black Eagle!
> 
> Warning, in this episode there is some light injury and blood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have finally finished this chapter! It's the longest one (at least for now?) and I do hope you will enjoy it!
> 
> Hubert is very lost and doesn't understand Ari's personality at all as they are quite different. 
> 
> Tell me what you think of it in the comments!

### Chapitre V – Consequences (Part II)

Everyone was rushing into the hallways. Hubert ran to Lady Edelgard’s side to inquire about what happened. Something unexpected must have taken place during their camping trip. They were only supposed to be attacked by some mercenaries sent from the Flame emperor. It was to accuse the Church of Seiros of incompetency and incapacity to protect the future King of Faerghus.

He arrived as other students were already crowded all around the three houses’ leaders and other unknown figures. A blue-haired woman was walking along with some heavily armed warriors. 

‘This cannot be good…’ thought Hubert while trying to catch Lady Edelgard’s sight as he could not approach her. The three leaders seemed to be hypnotised by this stranger, all trying to talk to her and get her attention. 

Seteth and Rhea erupted quickly to break the crowd gathered there. 

‘Everyone needs to go back to their occupations.’ exclaimed the green-haired man. His voice filled up the corridors. 

Hubert was trying to slither to Lady Edelgard’s side. 

‘Even you, Hubert.’ He got caught scolded by Seteth as he was almost there. 

The sinister figure glared at the other man when he pronounced these words. 

He had no other choice than to obey. He went in direction of her room to wait for her return so he could be updated of this strange situation. He walked quickly, his mind was trying to understand what had happened with only the few information he had. 

She finally arrived and explained everything that happened during the expedition. Hubert was getting extremely concerned about this new warrior. Lady Edelgard seemed to already admire her. He will have to gather anything he can find about her. Trusting people was not in his nature, moreover anyone who appeared mysteriously like that. 

‘This will change our plans, Hubert… However, it may turn in our advantage.’ she said as he was still sceptical.

She was very tired of the expedition and entered her room. Hubert was still in the hallway, thinking about this new situation. He walked to the library, reading about strategy was the only thing that could change his ideas. It was pointless to worry about someone on which he knew absolutely nothing about. He needed to wait at least a few days, once he had gathered more about this Byleth. He will watch them from afar and find anything he could as he was used to doing for Lady Edelgard. 

While entering the library, he saw a few familiar faces around. Linhardt was often there when he was not sleeping. Some members from the other houses were also neat. Hubert did not really care about their presence and walked directly to the strategic books he had already find during his first week at the academy. It was one of his favourite room, he was actually impressed by the quality of the collection the Church had acquired. 

He arrived on the second floor, and he noticed a ginger-haired figure, reading a book while standing in front of a bookshelf. Ariana was absorbed by her book. The cover looked familiar to Hubert: it was one of his favourite strategic text. He observed her for an instant. Her nose was twitching as she was slightly frowning, probably because she was concentrating on her reading. It was filled with precious knowledge, not really useful for a simple soldier he thought. 

He stood there for a few more seconds until she noticed him looking at her. She closed the book quickly and moved to sit at a table in the middle of the room.

His fingers were strolling through the books, looking for the one he wanted. It was the last tome of a series he had started when the academic year had started. It was full of precious tactics that would definitely help him to prepare for the next mock battle. He initially wanted to sit there quietly for a while, yet he was sure he would not be left at peace if she was around. Even if the chores they did together were not as terrible as he had thought, he did not want to socialise with her outside of them. She was often annoying and a troublemaker and he wanted to be left alone with his thoughts. However, a part of him wanted to understand why she was reading this book. Recruits were not often seen in the library. It was mostly scholars and other members of the three houses. And even some members like Caspar were not visiting it often.

She looked at him with a slight smile which he did not know how to feel about. He was not someone who would smile at others easily. She on the contrary seemed to smile at everyone but him normally. Maybe was it because of their interaction of yesterday he thought? He had said what he was supposed to as he had promised to Lady Edelgard, he was not trying to be nice or anything. 

‘Would you have preferred to be alone here?’ she asked as she was still staring at him standing.

‘Ye… Well, I just had thought there would be nobody here on a Sunday afternoon.’ he answered as he was holding his heavy book. He still decided not to change his plan and sat a few chairs in diagonal of her. He would immediately leave if she was bothering him. 

They both sat there in silence for a moment. He was trying to concentrate on his reading. It was difficult as she was sighing heavily while frowning over her book.

‘Is there anything bothering you maybe?’ he asked, not really expecting an answer. It was mostly so she would stop making noise. 

‘Hm? No… well yes.’ she turned her book so Hubert could see the page she was looking at. He was surprised by her gesture.

‘I do not understand why anyone would sacrifice some of their troops just to get one of the enemy commanders. See in this battle, they did that and many soldiers died without purpose.’ she said as he was quickly looking at the battle plan. 

‘It is a basic chest move. You sacrifice a few pawns to get a higher rank opponent down. It will destabilise the enemy and can lead to winning the battle.’ he explained without any hesitation in his voice. 

‘I understand that point, I just do not get how you can choose who to send deliberately to die. Their lives are as important as others. How can you say, this man is not as valuable as me, let him die for our victory.’ she continued. It piqued Hubert’s interest as he liked to reflect over these kinds of subjects. 

‘Sacrificing lives is often an obligation. You have to decide which members of your army are expendable. Moreover, if it is for the greater good, the death toll is not important as long as you succeed.’ he answered.

She pouted while looking at him. She did not seem convinced about his response and was staring in his direction which made him feel uneasy. He did not like to be fixed that way.

‘I did not think of you like someone who would be interested in books and reading in general.’ he said hesitantly. He hated small talk and was uncomfortable doing it. He just thought that it would be of convenience and maybe stop her from staring.

Ariana was looking at him in silence for an instant, frowning slightly as if she was unsure of what he had just said. 

‘I don’t know how to read. I just like looking at the images.’ she answered while appearing extremely serious. Hubert did not know if it was supposed to be a joke or if it was true. She took her book back and went back to her reading. He observed her quickly. 

‘Your eyes are moving like you are reading through. And you would not be asking a question about the book if you were not understanding It.’ he said, as he was perplexed by her attitude. He wondered if he had said something wrong. He was trying to show interest and she should be happy about it. 

‘I learned how to fake it and I just like to waste my time in the library to avoid people saying useless comment. Today, it seems not to be working though.’ she stated, still ignoring his presence. 

‘… I should have said it differently.’ he muttered. She was very susceptible in his opinion.

‘Or not even speak at all. Small talk seems not to be for you.’ she said as she was still not looking at him anymore. At least it made her stop staring, however, Hubert was feeling even more uneasy than when she was looking at him.

‘Your tongue is sharp. I just thought that recruits, normally would not to be interested in that kind of reading.’ he was trying to explain his thought, the best he could. 

‘Looking down on people by their place in the Academy suits you, Hubert.’ she was heavily sighing again and her fingers were taping annoyingly on the wooden table. 

‘All I mean is that… I am surprised that you are reading strategy books.’ he was getting desperate. She was extremely annoying and was not even trying to understand what he was saying in his opinion. He was intrigued that they shared a common passion, and yet she was firing up at any words he said. 

‘I want to become better. Being a recruit does not force us to be categorised by the Nobles, as expendable forever.’ she explained as she was turning her page.

‘Do you aspire to greatness perhaps?’ he asked, his eyebrows were raised slightly. 

‘I wish to become strong enough to defend the people I love.’ she declared. Her hair was getting in front of her face which bothered her to stay concentrate on her book. She was putting them behind her ears with a small movement from her hand.

‘Maybe you could aspire to become a Great Knight someday. It would give you a fantastic advantage over the battlefield and moreover, you would lead your own troop. I know some of the Great Knights of the Church have started as simple recruits.’ he explained as he was still observing her. 

‘Simple, I love being undermined…’ she whispered. ‘Thanks for the advice though. I will ask Alois what he thinks of It.’ she added while this time looking up at him. 

‘Well, you are not simple to talk to. That is for sure. And you are welcome.’ He muttered, thinking this painful conversation was finally over. 

‘Don’t be surprised that we simple recruits live without being fair animals for you Nobles, though.’ she raised her tone. Her eyes were piercing through Hubert. Her nostrils were expulsing air loudly, showing that she was furious. 

‘This is not at all what I meant. I do not care if you are a recruit as long as you are useful and resourceful.’ he justified himself.

‘So I am useful only because I am expendable, just a human shield to protect you and all the other nobles?’ her voice was slightly trembling, filled by emotions that Hubert was not sure to absolutely comprehend. He did not even understand her reaction to his comments.

‘You are interpreting everything I am saying completely wrong…’ he whispered. They were still in a library. She was going to put herself in trouble if she continued. 

She stood up quickly and grabbed her book. 

‘You are a strange creature, Hubert,’ she whispered as she walked to the stairs. 

‘I return the compliment.’ he answered while returning into his reading. 

‘Such a surreal conversation…’ he thought at least it did change his mind. He was not worried about this new mysterious Byleth at all at this instant.

He could however not concentrate anymore and borrowed the book. He returned to his room as it was getting late. He did barely find sleep that night. He was trying to understand what had happened with Ariana. This person was definitely getting on his nerves. Even if she was a hard worker and did seem to be capable of critical thinking, it was not worth being in her presence as she was always bothering him. He did not like that she was returning everything he said against him. Yet, he was pleased to have discovered this shared interest. 

He woke up and went into the dining hall as usually for his coffee. The other members of the Black Eagle arrived after a while. Everyone was chatting about Byleth, this strange warrior. Lady Edelgard could not stop praising her. There were already some rumours that she was going to replace the teacher that had left.

The rest of the day went along smoothly. 

Byleth went all around the houses to present herself to everyone. Her father Jeralt re-joined the Knight of Seiros, this man was very a Legend amongst the Knight of Seiros hence his child must be very powerful too. 

Supper was already there, however, tonight, Rhea stood up front, waiting for everyone to be seated. 

‘We are glad to present you with the new teacher. Byleth will lead the Black Eagle. I hope that everyone is thrilled to welcome such a fantastic soul among our rank.’ she declared solemnly in front of everyone. They were all clapping. Lady Edelgard seemed very proud that she had chosen their class over the others. Hubert was getting uneasy, this would change their plans for sure. 

The next few days were interesting, however. The new professor was not conventional like the other one. She was hard to read, however. She seemed to care about the lessons and that everyone was getting along better. Even Bernadetta started to show up to class more often and was even motivated to progress. Hubert even managed to finally apologise properly. She did faint right after he did it, nonetheless, Lady Edelgard was happy that he was making efforts. 

Even if things were starting to change for the better, Hubert was still very suspicious of this new person in their life. She was getting along with everyone from every house without even trying. He was not finding anything useful about her and this made him even more distrustful.

Two weeks went by quickly, and during the weekends, he was still doing his punishment alongside Ariana. Hubert, however, found her different as on the first one. She barely talked, or even looked at him. They worked completely in silence and even during the lunch, she did not speak. He was not complaining as she was at least not annoying him anymore. Yet, he felt strange. He was starting to question everything he had said: he had understood that she was angry that he was surprised that she was reading. He did not comprehend why she was reacting so intensively to the discussion they had. He did not want to put too many thoughts into it as he had other troubles, nevertheless, it was still in a corner of his head. 

The mock battle was finally there. This was going to be the crucial moment where they could all prove themselves and see the quick progress they all had made. Byleth was also getting tested by this fight. Hubert was impatient to see the strategy they were going to use. 

They were all preparing for the exercise. Everyone got attributed a protector like the first one they did a month ago. Some part of him wanted to have Ariana by his side again. He only wanted to see what she was really capable of. However, he got paired with another recruit. He did not seem to shine with intelligence, but he probably would be talented enough to defend him. He was scrutinising the ground to see how everyone was placed. His eyes landed on the ginger-haired girl. She was in the front line of the battle, with the lesser recruits. This was odd as she was probably more skilled than the jock he had been attributed. 

He heard Caspar talking quickly with Bernadetta before going into their respective position.

‘Have you seen Ari anywhere? I thought she would be your protector Bernie!’ exclaimed the blue-haired boy.

‘She is with the rest of the troops, upfront. Alois is still very angry about her attitude during the last exercise. At least she is fighting on our side…’ she answered. Hubert was displeased by Alois’ choice to still punish her. She was already doing chores during the weekends, it was more than enough. 

‘At least this one does not talk at all.’ he thought to himself while looking at behemoth standing alongside him. 

The battle started. Manuela was fighting with Claude and the Golden Deer as Hanneman was defending the Blue Lion. Hubert would be affronting the Golden deer alongside Petra and Caspar on the left. Lindhardt and Bernadetta would be supporting them from afar. Byleth would lead Lady Edelgard, Ferdinand and Dorothea to defeat the Blue Lion. 

This strategy was perilous as they were dividing their powers. Nonetheless, if they were fighting attentively they could succeed. 

They were advancing smoothly onto the battle. Petra and Caspar were doing a decent performance as they managed to get rid of Leonie and some troop she was leading by joining their forces. The two other houses were fighting on their side too. Lorenz managed to take down Sylvain, however, he got beaten by Dedue. 

The recruits were following them, send to defeat the other squad when needed.

Hubert got close enough to defeat Raphael all alone as his protector was not very useful. He was not listening to him which infuriated the dark figure. They started to approach the rest of the enemy. They were protecting themselves behind a wall of stakes. 

He took an instant to think about the best way to attack them. Suddenly, a mock arrow touched his protector on his head: this meant that he was eliminated and Hubert was left alone. The arrow belonged to Claude, and this only signified that he was up with something. 

Caspar also got taken out by his arrows, but not before he managed to take down Ignatz. 

Petra was struggling against Marianne at this point. Hubert hoped that everything went on better on Lady Edelgard’s side.

Hubert was starting to cast a spell to destroy the wall of stakes in front of him. However before he could do it, Hilda jumped on him in an ambush planned by her house leader. 

He had no way to escape her. She should not get too close to him as he was not protected anymore. He cast a spell, and she managed to avoid it by jumping quickly on the side. 

She lunged on him to lend her final blow. Hubert was left speechless by her speed.

All of a sudden, he heard weapons clashing. A ginger-haired figure was in front of him, parrying her attack with her shield. She had run from her squad, to protect him. She was disobeying the order she was given, however, Hubert appreciated her initiative. 

‘Now Hubert!’ she screamed while still holding Hilda’s axe with her shield. 

He cast immediately a spell that incapacitated the pink-haired girl which eliminated her. Ariana got quickly rid of her partner that was following her. 

They were advancing in direction of Lysithea. Hubert was covering Ariana as she was running into the action, lending a critical blow over the magic-user as Hubert got rid of the recruit protecting her from afar. He joined her. Their next target would be Claude. 

Petra had finally taken care of Marianne and her protector, however, she had lost her partner. 

They were advancing, as Bernadetta caught up with them. She had also lost her protector, nevertheless, she wanted to support them even if she was uncovered. 

Claude was going to be a challenge, nonetheless, they were four against him. Petra jumped on him accompanied by Ariana. Hubert managed to cast a spell that finished him. 

They only had Manuela left. She was a professor hence she way stronger than them. 

Hubert started by casting a powerful spell on her. Petra landed a blow on the professor, however, she got instantly eliminated by her powerful magic. He was her next target. She was standing there, preparing her next move. An attack was coming directly at him. Ariana jumped in front of him and received it fully which propelled her body on the ground away. It left the time to Hubert to cast another spell, however, it was just not enough to finish the enemy and she was ready to attack him again.

‘We are so closed.’ The moment this thought crossed his mind, an arrow perfectly landed on Manuela’s upper body. Bernadetta had managed to do a critical shoot. Hubert was as much surprised as her. She seemed terrified by what she had done.

On the other side of the field, Lady Edelgard and Byleth were also finishing Hanneman. 

They had won. Hubert was full of pride as he was looking around him. It had been a fantastic exercise. 

He saw Bernadetta running to Ariana’s body. She was still on the ground. Hubert also approached to see what was happening. She was getting up difficultly as she was holding her arm.

‘What is going on?’ he asked calmly.

‘AH! Don’t sneak up on me like that! She-she broke her arm I think when she got propelled.’ explained the violet-haired girl while barely looking at him. She was still terrified of his presence.

‘Nah. It’s nothing. Don’t worry. I will go to the infirmary and it will be alright.’ Ariana answered, while still holding her arm. She looked livid, probably because of the enormous pain she was experiencing.

‘May I look?’ Hubert asked as he was reaching out to her left arm. 

He detached her shield, trying not to hurt her. His fingers were running on her arm, feeling her bones. He was touching his shoulder and felt something wrong.

‘Your arm has been dislocated in my opinion. I can put it back quickly if you trust Me.’ he explained to her. 

‘Well no I don’t…’ she was not convinced by his proposition.

‘There are other wounded students and recruits, Manuela will not have the time to take care of you until a long time Ari!’ interrupted Bernadetta.

‘Manuela will do the same manipulation. I have already done it a few times, it’s very easy.’ Hubert was nodding at what his classmate had just said.

Ariana looked at him, sighed and agreed.

Hubert helped her to lay on the ground while Bernie was sitting on her other side, attending to her.

‘You will need to take deep long breaths.’ he was talking softly so she would stay calm.

He grabbed her arm with both hands while trying not to hurt her. He needed to keep her arm at the same height as her body while her hand was facing down. He moved her limb slowly in direction of her head while slowly making a small circular movement. Her arm was now on the same level as her shoulder.

‘Keep breathing slowly.’ he said while he was starting to rotate it slightly. 

‘I will count to ten now.’ he started to count as he was continuing to move the arm closer to her head. However, before arriving at the final number, they heard a slight sound coming from the shoulder. A muffled screamed got out of Arianna’s mouth. Her shoulder was back in place. 

‘You said you were counting!’ she screamed at him, a furious look was on her face.

‘Now don’t move we have to attach your arm with something. Bernadetta do you have anything on you that could be used?’ he asked the other student. She looked over her but she had nothing appropriate for that.

He looked over a bit too, and he remembered his sword had a decorative rope with tassels that would do the trick for the moment. 

He helped her to sit properly while holding her arm close to her upper body. He attached it the gentlest he could. He let her support herself on him to get up and grabbed her equipment as they walked in direction of all the others. 

All three of them were silent. When they arrived at the others, Bernadetta got cheered by everyone as they were all impressed by her achievement. 

Ari went directly back to the Academy, without talking to anyone. Hubert was left with her shield and sword.

‘Are they trophies of our victory?’ asked Lady Edelgard as she was approaching him. 

He congratulated her on her performance and explained quickly what had happened.

‘So the same person who made you eat dirt, also protected you today. I am looking forward to meeting her. Byleth will probably also like her.’ she said while laughing softly.

Everyone was also cheering on the new professor’s fantastic victory. She was the main reason they had won. Hubert hoped that next time it would not be as tight as today. He also congratulated her, in his way. 

They all got back to the Academy. Hubert left the sword and shield to Alois. He also praised Ariana’s act during the battle. He did not wish to see her as a simple troop again. He enjoyed fighting with her as she was more resourceful than the other partner he had today. 

They all went to clean themselves before supper. Hubert had a private bathroom in his room as he was sleeping in the Noble part of the academy. He took a quick bath. He liked to be clean but not to waste too much time on it. He directly went to the Dining Hall where he got joined by Lady Edelgard and Byleth.

‘We have to celebrate our victory, tonight professor! I feel a new start for the Black Eagle since you are with us!’ exclaimed the white-haired girl to her teacher. 

Byleth nodded with a light smile on her face. Hubert was pleased about today, however, he was still not trusting her. 

Almost all the rest of the Black Eagle arrived to eat. It was the cabbage and herring stew served with a light pastry as dessert tonight. They were all chatting and laughing. Hubert was not taking part of their conversation, however, he was listening attentively. 

Caspar finally showed up, followed with Bernadetta and Ariana. 

They were all looking in their direction.

‘Hi… Caspar insisted on me joining you tonight…’ she said softly. Her hair was completely detached and she looked tired. Hubert noticed that Ariana had changed the strap holding her arm.

‘Well. You cannot eat with only one arm and moreover, you helped a lot during the battle today!’ Caspar exclaimed while helping her to sit and put her plate in front of her. Bernadetta settled down in front of her as Caspar sat beside.

‘Ariana, you did fantastically during the mock battle. And I am very happy that you stopped making Hubert eat dirt.’ said Edelgard while everyone was chuckling at her comment except Hubert. She was in an amazing mood because of their victory. 

‘Thank you Lady Edelgard. He did not try to attack Bernadetta today, I am still ready to do it again though.’ she answered as Caspar was cutting her food.

‘Well, I am waiting to see that. I am sad I have missed it the first time as I do believe he deserved it a bit. Call me Edelgard, like everyone here.’ she said while laughing at her comment. Hubert was displeased by their jokes, it did not stop him to eat one of his favourite meal. 

They all started to talk passionately. Dorothea was overjoyed to finally meet Ariana properly as she had heard everything about the fight between her and Hubert. She went to sit by her side once she had finished her plate. She started braiding her hair nicely as she noticed that she could not have done it before because of her arm. 

Byleth was taking part in all the conversations. It was the liveliest supper they had since the start of the year. 

‘You don’t finish your plate, Ari?’ asked Caspar loudly, attracting glances from the other members and putting her a bit on the spot. 

‘I-I don’t really like herring. It’s too strong for me. I will eat my dessert, don’t worry for Me.’ she answered, Hubert could see she was feeling a bit uncomfortable with his question. 

‘That’s funny, it’s one of Hubert’s favourite dish. He does not like sweets. You should take his dessert, he never eats It.’ exclaimed Edelgard while grabbing his pastry and passing it down to her. 

‘Th-Thanks! Are you sure?’ she asked hesitantly. 

‘I did not have the choice, however, you will enjoy it more than Me.’ he answered. 

The conversations resumed between everyone. Even Bernadetta was speaking a bit. It was probably due that her closest friend was here to support her. 

It was getting late, so everyone had to go to sleep eventually. It was the weekend tomorrow, so most of them could stay in bed longer. Hubert and Ariana however, had their last chores to do. 

He woke up with the sunrise, prepared himself and went immediately to meet Seteth to receive their last punishment. They waited a bit more than usual for Ariana to finally arrive. Her hair was detached again, and her jacket was opened. She must have had trouble to properly get prepared with only one arm, thought Hubert at her sight.

‘Well, you don’t seem to be in a good state today, recruit. Are you sure you will be capable to do your punishment? We can postpone it to next week.’ proposed Seteth while looking at her.

‘I want to finish it today. Thanks for asking.’ she answered monotonously, she did not sound fully herself in Hubert’s opinion. 

‘Are you sure? Hubert should not be the one doing all the work.’ he insisted as he was not convinced by her attitude. 

‘If she says she can do it, she will.’ declared Hubert, which surprised both Ariana and Seteth. 

‘Well if you can assume the amount of work.’ said the right arm of Rhea as he was giving them their chores. 

They both moved to the lawn that needed the weed to be removed. She was not talking at all; she did not seem to be in a good mood. 

The morning went on difficulty. She was not working as fast as she used to. Hubert was constantly interrupted in his thoughts by her groanings as she was clearly upset. Caspar came by and helped her to close her jacket. Hubert was uncomfortable when he saw that. She was independent enough to do it herself even with only one arm he thought. He had also brought her something to eat, however, she refused as she could not waste any more time. Caspar stayed a bit to pull some weed with her. Hubert had noticed that they bonded a lot as they were training together whenever they had some time to spare. 

With Caspar’s help, they had almost finished, however, Seteth came by to verify their work. He quickly disappeared not to get caught. 

Bernadetta also came by but she instantly turned around when she saw the green-haired figure. She probably did not want to put Ariana into more trouble. 

They completed their first task a little bit after midday. They still had to clean the horse boxes. They moved there still in silence. Hubert thought that he did not really need to thank her as she only did her job. Nonetheless, she still got hurt to protect him. And even if he was not allowing himself to acknowledge it, he was grateful she did so. 

They arrived and she painfully took her jacket off. Hubert looked at her, hesitating about whether to help her or not. She would probably jump on him if he asked anything, considering her current mood. He also noticed some reddish stains around her shoulder. 

At least it was her left arm that got hurt and she could still help a little bit. Nonetheless, using the shovel was impossible for her. She was moving the wheelbarrow difficultly. At some point, she screamed and kicked in a bucket. 

‘Are you feeling alright?’ asked Hubert, while still working. 

‘I hate being useless.’ she declared aggressively, still upsetting herself against the bucket. 

‘You will hurt yourself even more if you continue.’ he said to her.

‘Well that’s because of you that I am like that.’ she claimed while frowning at him. 

‘I did not ask you to jump and protect me. It was your role as a protector.’ He stopped working and observed her a bit. She had crouched on herself and put her head at her knees. He heard soft weep coming from her. 

‘Are you crying?’ he asked hesitantly, he was uneasy just at this idea. 

‘No… I am not.’ she said while sniffling. He knew she was lying. He approached her slowly, absolutely uncertain of what to do.

‘Is it still painful?’ he examined her on the ground. She did not answer him and was still sobbing. 

‘Get up, I will examine your shoulder.’ he told her.

She did so, no without moaning. With his fingers, he checked out her bones and shoulder. Everything seemed at the right place like yesterday. 

‘Remove your shirt so I can see how swollen it is.’ he demanded her unemotionally.

‘I beg your pardon? I am not undressing in front of you.’ she rapidly answered, clearly shocked. Hubert understood his thoughtlessness and tried to explain that he considered her as any soldier and would have offered that to any wounded person.

‘Are your… front covered under your shirt?’ he asked awkwardly. 

‘Would you mind not referring to my breast?’ her face blushed quickly. 

‘Are you in pain or not? I can help only if I see your wound. If you don’t stop with your childish attitude, I will return to my work immediately. I have lost enough time already.’ he exclaimed as he was clearly getting annoyed. 

She did not answer immediately, however, she started to remove her shirt painfully. Hubert helped her to pull her sleeve. She had just uncovered her wounded arm and was covering the rest of her body as she could. 

He quickly noticed that her whole arm was heavily bruised. He ran his fingers on it. 

‘Are you fingers always that cold?’ she shivered at his touch. 

‘Cold should actually help you relieve the pain, you should not complain.’ he said while observing her shoulder. He saw that she had some cuts on it that were still bleeding a bit. She probably had fallen on some small stones when she got propelled yesterday.

‘Why haven’t you told me you were bleeding yesterday?’ he scolded her.

‘I have noticed it only this morning when I woke up and my sheets were stained.’ she explained while sighing. 

‘Well you should not have forced yourself and go to the infirmary immediately in the morning.’ he was exasperated by her decision. 

‘I wanted to finish my chores so I could go back to training normally…’ she was trembling a little. 

‘You will not be able to train with a shoulder like that anyway. I am taking you instantly to see Manuela at the infirmary.’ he exclaimed while helping her put her shirt back on. 

‘But…’ she tried to argue and he quickly interrupted her.

‘I am more than annoyed by your stubbornness. Now you will listen to me for once and follow Me.’ he was surprised that he was insisting this much. It was not really in his habits to care about someone else than Lady Edelgard. However, he did felt responsible for her wound, even if she did what she was meant to. 

He grabbed her jacket and accompanied her to the second floor. He noticed that her eyes and nose were reddish because she had cried. 

He knocked on the door. Manuela took some time to open it. She observed the recruit and recognised her from the first time she was there.

‘What have you done to her this time, Hubert?’ she asked, looking at him angrily.

‘Well. You are the one who has done that yesterday during the mock battle actually.’ he answered, already annoyed by her unprofessionalism. 

‘Have I? Oh my dear, come inside I will examine you immediately. Why haven’t you come already yesterday?’ she ignored Hubert’s presence and put her arm around Ariana as she was accompanying her to an unoccupied bed. 

She closed the curtains on Hubert. He waited until he heard his name mentioned. He was getting impatient as he still had to finish his chore.

‘So Hubert put your shoulder back. It looks alright, but it must have been really painful. I will use some magic to relieve the pain and close your wounds.’ he was listening to Manuela talking softly. 

‘Now promise me you will not do anything reckless. Even if it feels like you got your arm back, you need to leave it attached for a few days more. And come and see me if it hurts. Don’t wait this time.’ she explained to the recruit as they were going out of the stall together. 

Ariana nodded to her, her cheeks had taken their same usual colour. 

They quickly returned to their chores. Caspar was on their way and followed his friend to give a hand again. Hubert was annoyed just by his presence, however, he was relieved that they had a chance to finish in time with his help. 

They cleaned everything in no time. Ariana was in charge of distributing the food and the water as she could do it with only one arm. 

Caspar disappeared quickly before the end of the day to avoid Seteth. Before leaving he asked her to come to supper again as gratitude for the help he had offered today. She chuckled but accepted. 

Seteth came to check like every Saturday. He was impressed and suspicious that they managed to finish on time. He still let them leave, not without asking them no to disobey ever again, as next time the chores would be even worse. 

They left the stables. Hubert put his jacket back quickly while walking and saw Ariana struggle to put hers.

He went to help her. He stopped asking as she was always saying no to anything he offered. And he was too tired to argue. 

‘You should have asked Caspar to do it for you earlier, he does seem to like to be your shiny Knight.’ he muttered while buttoning her jacket.

He put her collar correctly, took the hay that was left in her hair. 

‘Well you are not bad at it yourself either.’ she said while looking at him. Her eyes were green, Hubert never took attention to this detail before. 

‘Pardon?’ he asked, surprised by her answer.

‘Well, you helped me a lot today. You worked more than me and even brought me to the infirmary. It looks like you are capable to take care of others.’ she explained.

‘I am not taking care of you by pure sympathy. We all need you to be useful, the battles will become harder and you need to be able to contribute like anyone else.’ he declared while he started to walk again. 

‘I don’t understand you. You can never be nice without acting heartless right after. Every time I think you are not that bad, you always say something despicable immediately to prove me wrong.’ she said while trying to keep up with his pace.

‘Be reassured, I don’t understand you either. Getting angry for anything I say or do. Your emotions are the one controlling you.’ he responded coldly. 

‘Well. That’s settle. We cannot communicate without annoying the other.’ she declared as she stopped. Hubert did not notice it until he was already a few steps from her. 

He turned around and saw her searching for something in her pocket.

‘I am not expendable and just a pawn you can dispose of.’ she said as she grabbed the cord that he had used to attach her shoulder yesterday and throw it back at him. She passed by him quickly and turned in direction of the recruits dormitory.

Hubert was standing there with the cord at his feet, still unsure of what he had done that had upset her like that. She clearly referred to their previous conversation at the library a few weeks ago. He did not comprehend exactly why. He never called her a pawn or that she was expendable. 

He picked up his item and looked at it for an instant. He had other matters to work on and should not be losing time on this person anymore. Yet, he wanted to know why she was this upset with him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading my story! 
> 
> I loved writing that sweet moment between them when he is taking care of her. And also that he is a little bit jealous of how Caspar is closed to her without noticing it. 
> 
> Next chapter will be in Ari's POV again and will keep up with the next events of the game. 
> 
> I took some more time to write this chapter as I took a break and wrote a later chapter. I needed to settle what was going to happen later.
> 
> If you like my story, don't forget to leave a Kudo or even a comment to suggest any ideas!


	6. Their first mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Black Eagles are sent to find Kostas, the bandit that had attacked the house leaders a few weeks ago. They are sent only with a few recruits. Ari is one of them. 
> 
> The battle is bigger than they were prepared for. Some of the students are killing for their first time. Everyone copes with it in their manners. 
> 
> Ari finally goes talk to Hubert to thank him when he helped her with her shoulder. They are starting to understand each other better, even to the point of enjoying each other's company.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was nice to write. Hubert and Ari finally start to talk together without getting angry or annoyed by the other and I believe that it's sweet. 
> 
> Also, the battle was exciting to write about. 
> 
> I hope you will enjoy it!

###  Chapter VI – Their First mission

Supper was finally there and she was starving. She had had a troublesome day and had eaten nothing at all. It was very unusual for her, however, she did not have the time as she had to finish her final chores in time. 

She was coming from her room to the Dining Hall. She had to take a break from other people for a moment as Hubert had upset her. She hated to cry, and she had already done it twice today. She loathed herself even more as she had done it in front of him. 

‘This will never happen again!’ she thought while entering the Dining Hall. She wanted to be strong and invincible but she was still too weak. Her shoulder was proof of that. She will need to train against magic-users soon as it was her biggest weakness for now. 

She grabbed a plate when Caspar joined her. He was insisting that she comes to eat with the Black Eagle, but she asked to postpone it for another day when she will feel better. She wanted to be alone tonight, not to hang out with spoiled nobles. It was unfair of her to think of them like that, however, she was not in a good mood.

She asked the kitchen staff if she could bring her plate later. They got very accustomed to her and had not any problem with that. She only had one arm available so she had to leave her dessert behind. 

It was Harpstring Moon so it was not too cold outside gladly. She found a perfect spot isolated enough so she would be quiet. She was enjoying the fresh air, while still being protected by the roof of the peristyle. 

She managed to sit on the ground while balancing her plate and cutlery with only her arm. She started eating the stir-fried vegetables.

She was sighing heavily when a brown-haired figure approached her. 

‘Oh, Ari! What are you doing here?’ asked Dorothea with the sweetest voice. 

‘Ah. I just… I just needed to be alone tonight. I had a rough day…’ she answered while looking up at her.

‘Do you want me to leave? Or do you want a friend’s company?’ she was already sitting down without really leaving any option to Ari. She still nodded to please her.

They started chatting a bit. She did not know that Dorothea was not from a noble family. She loved Bernie with all her heart, but sometimes it was hard to communicate as they had such different background. They both agreed that sometimes the nobles were a bit too much to handle. It was a pleasant moment. 

‘Hmm. I think I know why you are upset. Haven’t you got your chores with Hubie today?’ she investigated while observing Ari intensively. 

‘You call Hubert that? And you get away with it?’ asked Ari with her eyes wide opened.

‘I never asked him, it does make him less terrifying though. I am uncertain if he appreciates it, but whatever. So is he the reason for your sorrow?’ she was not going to let her escape.

Ari explained a bit of what happened as Dorothea was insisting. She started braiding her hair again while listening as she noticed that she was still incapacitated. 

‘Hmm. That does sound like Hubie. It’s just his way. I believe he doesn’t realise how cold he can be sometimes. Yet he did help you a lot today and you should thank him for that Ari… Acts are what counts in my opinion.’ she said as she just had finished braiding her hair. 

Dorothea helped her to get up and accompanied her to bring back her plate.

Bernie arrived running and hugged Ari immediately. She got scared that she had done something wrong and she did not want to see her ever again. Ari reminded her to be careful as she was still wounded and reassured her. 

She saw Caspar gesticulating from afar the moment he noticed her from the other side of the room. She hesitated to join him, however, she saw the dark figure still present at the table and changed her mind. She had heard what Dorothea told her and even if she understood her reasoning, she did not want any contact with him, at least for a few days…

During the next week, training was a little bit complicated as her arm was still hurting her. She went back to the infirmary every time it was too much pain to bear. Manuela promised her that she would be able to fight again in a few days. The less she was doing, the faster it would heal. 

She observed the other recruits, from the side as she could not join along. She took the opportunity to apologise about her behaviour to Alois. She had postponed this moment for too long. He was pleased that she finally came to him. He congratulated her about her performance during the last mock battle. She did disobey orders, however, it was the best thing she could have done in this circumstance. She felt so much warmer. She had hated the past weeks as she thought she had disappointed her mentor so much that he would never forgive her. 

She also took the time to talk to him about what Hubert had suggested. Since he said that she could be a Great Knight eventually, it did not leave her mind. Alois was thrilled that she had to settle new goals and he would help her to define objectives once her arm was completely healed. 

Her next step would be to learn how to ride a horse. She would need to train a lot. 

They also had a new instructor some days during the week. The legendary Knight Jeralt was accompanying Alois during their training. He was incredibly strong and talented. Ari was in complete adoration of his technics. She did not consider herself as shy, however, she could never find the occasion to ask him for bits of advice as she was petrified in his presence. 

She also took the time to go more to the library. She wanted to read anything she could about Knights and their achievements. Bernadetta accompanied her a few times. They loved to just read together in silence. Moreover, she was great to detect immediately if Hubert was nearby as she was always wary of him. It helped Ari to avoid him by hiding behind a pillar or anything else she could find. It happened a few times and then it completely stopped. She did not see him anymore, except than sometimes in the Dining Hall. 

She did not think about it too much as she had a lot to catch on. Her arm finally healed properly and after two weeks, she was completely back on the training ground. It took a little longer than it was supposed to as she hurt herself a few times while she tried to fight. Manuela was more than displeased about her reckless attitude. 

She worked even longer in the evening, and during the weekends. She got joined by Dedue a few times and even if they did not talk a lot, she appreciated his company and advises. He was way bigger and stronger than her, but she was quicker. He was a great partner to progress with. Caspar was also often around, pushing her to surpass herself. She was getting better at axe-wielding and it was slowly becoming her favourite weapon. 

She even started to ride a horse on the side. She had already done it a few times back in her village, but it was not for military purpose. Now it was for real. She got closer of the animal she was training with and often came to pet it on her spare time. She also met Marianne, as she was always there, taking care of the horses. She was a sweet soul and Ari enjoyed her presence, even if they rarely talked. She admired how patient she was.

At the end of the month, Byleth and the Black Eagle went to execute a mission given by Lady Rhea. The bandits that attacked all the house leaders a month ago had been spotted in the Red-Canyon in Zanado. They were sent to punish them. It was going to be their first real mission and Ari had been chosen with seven other recruits to follow them. Not any other members of the Knight of Seiros would be accompanying them, it would be the moment to prove themselves as soldiers. 

They got better equipment. Ari finally received her own chainmail. She was so proud of it. She also got new plates that were covering most of her vital points. When she picked her new shield up, she had a lot of trouble to keep it straight. She would need to get used to it. She even received a sword and an axe. They were not in the best state, but she could still do a lot of damages with them. Alois was very confident that she would support the Black Eagle well.

They left early in the morning. At first, the group did not do a lot of noises as some of them were not completely awake. Bernadetta was the most unpleased by the situation in Ari’s opinion. When the sun was in the middle of the sky, almost everyone was chatting lively. It helped to pass the time as the walk was quite long until the Red Canyon. They would be camping a night before arriving there. 

The other recruits were mostly hanging out together at first, however, Dorothea and Petra made them comfortable. Ari did not realise that she was spending more time with Bernie than her fellow training companions until today. It just seemed natural. 

The bags on their back were slowing them down. The ginger-haired recruit took most of her friend’s pack as she was not strong enough. She was not pleased, nevertheless, it was good training. Caspar took some later on their way. Ari did notice that he was trying to get closer to Bernadetta. It was not with a lot of success as he was too abrupt. Nevertheless, the three of them spent a lot of time together recently. Ari also took the opportunity to talk a bit more to the other members of the Black Eagle, except Hubert. It was almost as he was the one avoiding her now. She did try to start a conversation once, he quickly answered and walked faster. Ari was bitter that he was ignoring her, she still needed to thank him for his help properly. And even apologise for her outburst. She had thought a lot about it and she had been unfair to him. She did not like to admit it to herself, so it would be even harder to say it to him. Impossible if he was not talking to her anymore. 

The day was almost over and they decided to set up their camp before it was getting too dark. They installed a few tents. Recruits were sharing two and the Black Eagle had personal ones. Installing the camp was the duty of the recruits and the Nobles had to prepare the food. 

The night went fast. They had to sleep early to be ready for their big day tomorrow. They ate around the fire. Dorothea even sang to distract everyone. Ari’s ears and eyes were hypnotised by her performance. She never had the chance to see an opera in her life. She was looking forward to when the singer explained the whole story of the Aria she had just interpreted. 

In the morning, they folded the tents and continued their trip. They walked a bit more before arriving at their destination. The bandits had been spotted nearby. They prepared themselves for the battle and set up a temporary camp to plan their operation. Ari put on her armour. Caspar helped her to attach all the leather straps correctly. The metal was heavy, and she would have to get used to having her speed reduced.

Byleth organised the strategy. She would be leading the way with Edelgard, followed very closely by Caspar, Ferdinand and Petra who would be supported by the recruits. Dorothea, Hubert, Bernadetta and Linhardt would stay behind and follow them whenever they were safe enough. Hubert argued that he wanted to be close to Edelgard so he could protect her. However, Byleth was inflexible, it was a serious mission, and they were all risking their life. She left some recruits behind to protect them. Ari was selected. She was a bit disappointed not to be in the heart of the fight. Nevertheless, she was reassured to be close to Bernie. She did not want anything to happen to her. 

They finally arrived at their destination, the Canyon was impressive. She never had seen anything like this before. 

‘This is exceptional…’ she thought quickly before remembering why they were here.

‘So this is the Red Canyon… A ruin of sorts by the look of it. Let’s end this quickly. The thieves must have been driven back. Be careful or the cornered mice might bite us.’ declared Edelgard in front of this breathtaking view. 

As she was talking, the thieves had spotted them. Kostas, their leader was screaming at them. The battle would start soon. They would need to cross a bridge which was guarded by a few bandits. 

Byleth defeated the first foe. As a former mercenary, it was clear that she was used to it. Ari could recognise some of Jeralt’s technics. Edelgard got the second one with the help of Ferdinand and some recruits. 

Dorothea and Hubert were joining their magic from not too far away and supported Caspar and Petra for their first kill. Ari was observing the action while reassuring Bernadetta. 

‘I don’t want to kill anyone, Ari. I… I want to go home!’ she screamed while holding her bow strongly. Her friend felt useless as she could not help her more than with words. She was a few steps away from her and was concentrating on the battle. The screams of every one were terrifying. Hubert’s laugh was not helping either. He seemed to have killed people already. Ariana always had a doubt, this was the clear confirmation. 

They finally arrived on the other side, where they met up with even more warriors. Byleth was advancing to the right, followed closely by Edelgard. Ferdinand led another group to the left, accompanied by Petra and Caspar and some of the recruits. Lindhardt and Dorothea were supporting them from afar, not too far from Hubert and Bernadetta. 

All of a sudden, bandits ambushed them, separating them from Byleth’s squad. Ari was in her position to protect her friend. One of the bandits ran to her. She parried the attack and managed to hit him badly. Not enough to defeat him. She succeeded to avoid a second attack from another one. However, she did not see the third one running to her. She only noticed him getting propelled away- Hubert had intervened. 

She took a long breath, it was reassuring that she got support. Bernie was petrified for the moment. The other recruit was fighting on the other side. It was getting complicated. 

She was parrying and attacking whenever she had an opening. Suddenly, her sword pierced through an enemy. She got blood on her armour - it was not hers. Her eyes were wide opened, observing the life living his body. She could not move for an instant, frozen by what she had done. It was the first time she had to kill someone. It never occurred to her how easy it was to take a life. She quickly got back to herself when she heard Bernadetta’s scream behind her. One of the bandits had diverted their attention to her. Ari lunged on him with her sword, which planted on his back. A spell passed over her head, defeating the foe she had left behind. 

She nodded to Hubert to thank him. She ran to help the other recruit. They got circled by more bandits. The situation was becoming dire. They were three against the double. Bernadetta was still petrified. Hubert was not helping her as he was laughing even louder, every time he defeated someone. 

While parrying an attack from one of the bandits, Ari got pushed down on the floor by another one. Her eyes closed for a second as her body hit the ground. Her shoulder hurt her quickly. An enemy was preparing his final blow as he was raising his axe in the air. She managed to roll on the side the moment it hit the floor. She would not be able to avoid a second one like that. She was on her stomach, facing Hubert. Their eyes met for an instant and she saw him starting to cast a spell. However, before he could do it, the attacker fell on the ground. Ari stood up and grabbed her weapon. She noticed the body, an arrow planted in his head. 

She turned around to see Bernie crying. She smiled at her, she had no time for more than that. She returned to defend herself. The sound of her shield clashing against the foe’s weapons was hurting her ears. They finally managed to get rid of the ambushers as Bernadetta continued to help them. 

However, she did not want to follow them further and preferred to join Linhardt. Hubert ordered Ari to accompany him, which surprised her, yet she had not time to think. She left her friend behind, protected by the recruit. 

They quickly joined the others as they were arriving closer to Kostas. Ari lunged on the first enemy nearby. She disarmed him and Hubert finished him. 

The bandits’ leader was trying to escape. Byleth ran to catch him followed by Edelgard, leaving the rest of the enemy to the other students. 

A warrior jumped on Ari and threw her sword in the air. She still managed to hit him and pushed him on the ground as she avoided his attack. Hubert cast a spell on him as he was imploring for his life. She looked at him, terrified of the magic he had used. He turned his head, facing her for an instant. When suddenly, He pushed her heavily on the ground. 

‘Why have you done that?’ she screamed as she was trying to get up. 

She noticed magic passing nearby her. The bandits had a mage on their side. She was not prepared for that at all.

‘Stay on the ground.’ he responded, loud enough so his voice could be heard over the battling sound. She did not obey as she got up while grabbing the closest weapon around her. She ran on the mage as he was too preoccupied with Hubert's attack and jumped on him. She managed to hit him badly, however it was not enough. She saw him, reading his tome to prepare another spell when he got surrounded by a strange gas. He quickly succumbed to the attack and fell on the ground. Hubert was standing near, looking at her. 

‘You should not have pushed me!’ she shouted while running furiously in his direction.

She noticed that a foe was sneaking on Hubert, seizing the opportunity to attack him. Ari lunged on her partner. His eyes opened wide. Her sword hit the enemy as it was passing in between Hubert’s arm and body. She slightly pushed him because of the momentum of her attack.

She pulled her weapon out and looked directly into Hubert’s yellow eyes. They were full of anger. 

‘Don’t do that ever again.’ he said while glowering at her.

‘Why not say thanks for once?’ she asked while turning in direction of the action. 

‘I almost killed you.’ he answered coldly. She looked at him and noticed that he was drawing a hidden dagger from under his jacket. She did not have the time to say anything as they got quickly back into the fight. 

Hubert ran to support Edelgard. Kostas was nearly beaten, he just wanted to be sure she would not get wounded by another bandit. Ari defended him as he was casting spells from a distance. 

Everyone heard a bloodcurdling scream which abruptly ended the battle. They had won. All the bandits left were fleeing for their lives as their leader had been defeated.

However, it was not a moment for celebration. She looked around her. They were not in a good shape. She saw some of the recruits crying over a body on the ground: one of them had been killed. She was trembling at his sight. She did not know him well, and yet she was devastated. 

She immediately ran to Bernie’s to see how she was doing, worried after having seen the dead recruit. Caspar followed her when he saw her leave. 

Bernadetta was crying, sitting on a stone with Linhardt. Ari threw her sword and shield away and hugged her the stronger she could. She was weeping even more at her embrace. Ari was proud of her friend, she protected her when she was in danger. Dorothea and Linhardt were also devastated.

They all knew they should be getting used to that, and yet at this moment, it seemed impossible. All five of them were silently looking at each other. Caspar was not even joking anymore. 

They got joined by Byleth and the rest of the Black Eagles. They had buried the recruit where he had perished. They all returned to their temporary camp, following their teacher. Nobody was in the mood of talking. 

They got their amours down. Bernadetta was still slightly weeping. They still had to walk a bit before they could finish the day. They travelled until the night was there and settled their camp.

The food was at least comforting. Ari ate it and immediately went to sleep. She hoped things would be different tomorrow. 

They woke up with the sunrise. The recruits took down the tents. It took them slightly longer as they were missing one of their companions. 

Ari noticed Bernie’s red eyes and nose; she had been crying all night certainly. She offered her once again to take most of her pack and they shared it with Caspar. This morning he did try to bring their mood up, but without any success. 

They finally arrived at Garreg Mach late in the night. Everyone returned to their room. Ari hugged Bernie again, to say good night.

Immediately when she arrived in her dormitory, she cleaned herself with a small towel and some water. She still had blood on her. 

And she slept. She only woke up at midday. She did not care that she was missing her training. Alois would understand. She did not want to go out today. She laid in her bed, looking at the ceiling without moving. 

In the middle of the afternoon, she finally got the energy to move. She joined her lesson. Alois welcomed her with a hug. She did not wish to let go of his embrace. She was craving for contact after what had happened. She noticed that some of the other recruits were not there. He explained that two of the one who had accompanied them on the mission had left already and some others had not shown up yet.

‘I am happy that you and the others are alive. I am very angry with Rhea that she left you to handle this alone. Next time I will be accompanying you. It was supposed to be a small battle. Nothing like that…’ he said with his hand on her shoulder. She was weeping softly, she did not like to show weakness to her captain and yet she was reassured to be in his presence. 

The next week went on slowly. Everything had changed for all of them. She trained harder than before, but she had a different energy – she was for the first time scared. She noticed others coming more often on the training ground. Bernie disappeared for a few days, even Ari could not get her out of her room. 

The ginger-haired recruit was staying so late training that she had to bandage her hands because of the blisters. She often found herself bleeding without having noticed it. Fortunately, Dorothea was soothing her pain with her magic.

During the weekend, she decided to visit the library again. It’s been quite some time she didn’t take the time to read; her mind was elsewhere. However, it was a good place to rest her thought a bit. She liked the smells and the silence in this room. She got up to the second floor where her favourite bookshelf was. 

When she arrived there, she noticed that Hubert was sitting at the same sit as last time. He saw her and stood up. He passed by her to take the stairs. 

‘Hubert, may I have a few words with you?’ she asked as he was on the first step.

‘Is it an urgent matter? I was leaving right now.’ he answered, not even looking at her.

‘Yes, it is. I wanted to thank you for saving my life the other day, and… I-I just wanted to say sorry for my behaviour during our last day of chores…’ she said while he was walking near her.

‘Why so?’ he asked while looking down. She was not looking at him in the eyes. 

‘I… I have been too harsh. You helped me the whole day and I unfairly snapped at you. I apologise for this.’ she declared hesitantly. He did not say anything, which bothered her a bit. She continued talking, not caring if he was actually listening.

‘I tried to apologise during this whole mission, but you would not let me even talk to you!’ their eyes met as she was finishing her sentence. 

‘That’s normal, I was avoiding you.’ he explained, his tone did not change.

‘… W-Why?’ she asked absolutely surprised by his response.

‘I noticed you hiding from my presence and thought you did not desire to see me anymore, I took the liberty to help you to do so.’ he was always composed, which destabilised Ari. 

‘This is… you are weird Hubert.’ she exclaimed. This whole conversation was surreal for her. 

‘I am mostly defined by terrifying by others, but weird probably also works.’ he replied with a wry grin. 

‘So you are aware of it?’ she asked while chuckling lightly. 

‘Well, of course, I heard the others say it before. So it would be hard to ignore It.’ he asserted. He had his book under his arm. Ari noticed that it was the same one she was reading a few weeks ago. 

‘You are definitely special Hubert.’ she said as she was chuckling even more. 

‘So should I put it with weird or is it a new adjective to describe me?’ he asked as his eyebrows slightly raised.

‘It’s in a good way. You really just cannot do nice things like normal people.’ she said while she was smiling at him slightly. 

‘It occurred to me that you would enjoy it and it was easier than to confront you.’ he explained still looking at her. Her eyes were not letting him look away.

‘So you saw me avoid you, and decided to also avoid me. Hubert this is not at all what I wanted.’ she exclaimed, clutching her fist, as she was annoyed a bit by his attitude towards her.

‘Then what did you desire?’ he asked.

‘Not… Not to be called simple, or just a pawn, or expendable.’ she replied, without breathing. It had been on her heart for quite some time and she finally could express it. 

‘I do not recall to have called you any of these words even once.’ he answered quickly. 

‘But you have implied it!’ she claimed, her hand was tightening her collar. 

‘I have only answered a question you have asked and you decided yourself of what I meant. I am sorry if I wrongly chose my word, however, this is how I express myself.’ his tone made Ari understood that it annoyed him a lot that she did not listen to him the other time.

They stared at each other for an instant in silence. She was feeling uncomfortable. 

‘So what do you really think about sacrificing lives to win?’ she asked finally.

‘All victory needs sacrifices. Nevertheless, I don’t believe in throwing lives away uselessly. The death has to mean something, or contribute to the greater good. I despise generals that waste the lives of their subordinate without respecting them.’ he explained to her while she was attentively listening to him. 

‘Hmm…yes. I agree with you. Just need to define the greater good, but I like how you think.’ she answered as she was reflecting on his response. 

‘You are something else, Hubert.’ she added with a grin.

‘Is it positive or negative this time?’ he asked with as light wry smile drawing itself on his face. 

‘Sorry that I have closed our discussion too quickly.’ she did not want to answer his question, he would have to figure it out. They stayed silent for an instant.

‘And I apologise to have been condescending, it was none of my intentions. I do not value my life or the other nobles above yours or the other recruits. Except for Lady Edelgard of course.’ he claimed while slightly bowing as he usually did. 

‘It is good to know that you can be nice sometimes Hubert. And I like fighting alongside you but don’t push me on the ground next time. I am very grateful that you wanted to protect me, however, I need to learn how to defend myself against magic.’ she said while stroking her shoulder. It was still hurting her sometimes. Hubert’s eyes quickly moved when she did it. 

‘I will protect you and anyone else as long as you are useful on the battlefield. So I will push you if I need to. Nonetheless, it’s honourable that you wish to improve yourself. ’ he asserted.

‘You should not worry for me, my main mission as a soldier is to protect you and the others.’ She stopped looking at him. She was uncomfortable about this whole idea, nevertheless, it was her main duty.

‘I will do as I please. I am thankful that you are obeying the orders from your captain. However, on the Battlefield, if you or anyone around me is in danger and I can help, I will do it. Lady Edelgard wants everyone to be safe when we are fighting.’ he explained. Ari was looking at him intensively.

‘… I am starting to get you. I think.’ she said, with a slight smile on her face. 

‘Do you?’ he asked, his eyebrows were raised.

‘Yes, and we are friends now. You do not have the choice. But I promise I will not call you Hubie like Dorothea.’ she claimed while slightly chuckling.

‘Well, I appreciate that you don’t give me any silly nickname. Nevertheless, I am just uncertain that is how friendship works.’ he appeared taken aback by what her affirmation.

‘Well, one of the main thing I do with my friend is to try to help them. And even if you don’t want to accept it, you have helped me a lot, you even took care of me. And it meant a lot. So yes. At least you are my friend and I don’t care about what you think about It.’ she said while staring at him. 

‘I see that I do not have any saying in that.’ he said, still surprised.

She nodded at him.

‘Then it is settled.’ he said while turning his back. She hesitated an instant.

‘You were reading before I arrived, would you like to stay a bit longer?’ she muttered while pointing at the table.

‘Only if you don’t consider yourself only as a pawn whenever I talk about strategy.’ he said as a wry smile appeared on his face. Ari was not used to seeing him like this. She thought that she had found what his main interest was. 

They spent a moment there. Hubert was asking some questions about the book they had fought over a few weeks ago. He read it again and wanted to know her opinion about certain topics. They did not agree on every choice made by leaders, however, they were discussing their opinion quite vividly. Ari felt her heartbeat a bit more present than normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for having read my fanfic until now! I really hope that you like the story. 
> 
> It's starting very slow as I really want to show how they are building their relationship. 
> 
> Tell me what you had thought of this chapter in the comments! It's very motivating to read your opinion!
> 
> Thank you again, it's a really amazing feeling to imagine anyone reading my fic!


	7. Obscure Fate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Few months pass. The Black Eagles succeed in all the missions they are executing for the Church of Seiros. However, with Byleth receiving the Sword of the Creator, Hubert has more work to do. Ariana still tries to find some time to spend with him. She seems to be very eager to just be around him. Hubert cannot stop asking himself why is she secretly plotting something against Lady Edelgard?
> 
> The month ends as Miklan, the disowned son of House Gautier steals a hero's relic. The Black Eagles are sent to stop him accompanied by some recruit. Hubert gets annoyed by Ariana's foolish comportment during the battle. She has risked her life and others. But for what?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there! Uni has started again and I will have less time to write. I will still try to post regularly! I have written already a few passages from after Garreg Mach has fallen. There will be a lot of drama and angst, but also fluff and smut! Cannot wait to finish the Academy years very soon!
> 
> Thank you for reading me, I am so happy when I see kudos in my email!

### Chapter VII – Obscure Fate

A few weeks had passed since their first mission at the Red Canyon. Hubert had been very occupied by Lady Edelgard’s duties. A lot needed to be taken care of for the next months. He had not the time for more than the lessons with the Black Eagles. And yet, he often found himself at the library discussing strategy tactics and ethics with Ariana. She was staying there more than she used to and they often bumped into each other. 

Even if they spent some time together, he did not trust her. She had shown loyalty during the mission, however, it was mostly to the Church than to Lady Edelgard in his opinion. She was merely obeying the order that Alois had given to the recruits. She did seem extremely close to Bernadetta and would protect her with her own life without any doubt. Nevertheless, this was not a proof of any possible allegiance to the Empire. Hubert did not believe that anyone was going to follow their shared vision with Edelgard. And this meant that they would all be fighting against each other someday. 

She would be a resourceful ally to have but trusting anyone was impossible and would surely compromise their plan. Nonetheless, spending some time together as a way to gather some information about the Blue Lions and the Church. She was training a lot with Dedue recently and she would with the time have learned all his weaknesses. She was also a perfect example of a Church Soldier and studying her would allow Hubert to understand on which strategy to use to assure their absolute victory in the future.

There was no other gateway to these precious clues. Following any members of the other Houses would be highly suspicious and it would probably get him into trouble. Using her to approach Dedue and by extension, Dimitri and the rest of their house was the easiest path. And she was clearly not aware of his intentions. Her laugh was resonating in every room she entered. Her eyes were filled with joy. She did appear as naïve and trusting people easily which unsettled him most of the time. He could not understand how someone could be like that with others.

Even if he had other motives, he found himself enjoying somehow her company. She was not familiar with as many books as him, nevertheless, it did not stop him to be interested in hearing her opinion on whatever she was reading. She was often asking him for advice for other books, and it pleased him when she actually followed them. Stimulation was something he was looking into these sessions, and he found it easily as Ariana was always returning anything he said against him. It motivated him to find better answers, she had a completely different view on battles than him. 

He was also getting used to her sneaking food inside without the permission of Tomas the librarian. He hated that she did so, as, in his opinion, she could damage precious books. Nevertheless, she was always doing it carefully. He did not get the obsession she had with sweets. 

Even if he could not trust her, he was still surprised by how she defended him during their last mission. She had proved that at least for now, she was reliable during quests that they executed for the Church. Moreover, she was only a simple recruit and could not possibly do anything to their whole operation. Lady Edelgard seemed to even appreciate her presence when she occasionally joined them in the Dining Hall or on the training ground. 

Months passed and the rain season arrived at the Monastery. They had accomplished different missions for the Church that all went well, at least in Hubert’s opinion. They stopped a coup from Lord Lonato. It disturbed some of the members of the Black Eagle and recruits to fight against militias. They were commoners brought into fights for only the sake of the Nobles. Hubert was glad that Ariana did not accompany them for this quest. He was almost certain that she would have done something foolish. When they had returned, she did seem extremely upset that Bernadetta had to kill innocent people. Her nostrils were flaring as she was consoling her friend in the Dining Hall the night they had come back. She had the right to be angry according to him. The archbishop Rhea had always been ruthless about rebels, but executing civilians was unforgivable. 

Moreover, they had found a threat from an unknown enemy addressed to Rhea. Obviously, Lady Edelgard and he knew about it as Those who slitter in the Dark were the one responsible for it. However, they had not planned that the Goddess’ rite of Rebirth was going to end like that. Byleth had managed to control the Sword of the Creator and Rhea entrusted her with it. This was extremely intriguing and made Hubert even more distrustful of their professor. So much mystery was shrouding around her. She was constantly changing their plans which made Hubert’s duties far more complexed. He was sleeping less and only came to the Dining Hall whenever he had finished everything he needed to do. He even had to absent himself a few time from classes to take care of crucial matters for Lady Edelgard. 

This made him completely forget about their occasional meetings in the library for a few weeks. Until an early morning, when he was sipping his coffee alone in the Dining Hall as usual. A ginger-haired figure appeared, he had not seen her this early since the second day of the Academy. She immediately joined him after she had talked with the Kitchen staff and grabbed her breakfast.

‘I did not see you at the library these days. I was certain to find you here for your coffee.’ she said while observing him. 

‘I am enjoying these moments alone normally.’ he answered, trying to ignore her and her pastries. 

‘And I thought I was not a morning person.’ She said while laughing out loud. This sound pierced his ears as the rest of the room was silent. He groaned without giving her any more attention. 

She surely understood that he wanted to be quiet as she did not talk after that comment.

However, it did not stop her to stare at him while drinking her hot beverage. Her eyes were often unsettling him as they were so light and… pure. The sensation they left on his mind was troubling him and yet weirdly intriguing. He cleared his throat to put an end to it. 

She finished her food and left instantly without any more sound.

‘Such a strange creature…’ he thought. He noticed that he had been looking at her walk away only when Lady Edelgard entered the room. His head tilted slightly, to put his ideas back in order. 

She joined him in silence every morning after this one. His hands were clenched at first as this was his only moment of true peace. He could ask her to leave, but she would definitely not let him alone and would argue as she always did. Yet, after a few mornings, he got used to her presence. A few words were even shared once and then. She absolutely wanted to try some coffee as she never had before. Hubert brewed her one. Her reaction when she put the beverage close to her lips actually got a slight chuckle out of him. Her whole face frowned with disgust. He advised her to add some sugar and milk so it would suit her taste buds. She laughed about it as she could not understand how he could be possibly drinking that. Her giggles were starting to be less annoying to his ears than they used to. 

Her company made him wonder what she wanted from him. Normally, people found him terrifying and he enjoyed that as he would be left alone. She was way too comfortable around him to be trusted in his mind. He wondered if she was plotting anything insidious against him or even worse, against Lady Edelgard. Yet, his whole body would unwind when she was sitting there, in front of him. 

They had to put a break to their morning encounters as they left for a new mission for the Church of Seiros. Miklan, the firstborn of the House Gautier had stolen with a group of bandits a hero’s relic. All because of a crest, he had been disowned in favour of his younger brother Sylvain as he did not possess one. Most of the Knights had taken off to purge the traitors who had planned Rhea’s assassination. This left them only with a few capable recruits and Byleth’s new sword of the Creator. Rhea seemed to think it would be enough for them to defeat their opponent. Lady Edelgard was unpleased about this whole situation, yet they had no choice to obey for now.

The sun had not yet risen when all the Black Eagles and the recruits left Garreg Mach. Their travel would last a few days as they were going to the Conrad Tower in the Holy Kingdom territory. The Church had lent two carriages for the students. It made their trip easier and they were not tiring themselves before the battle. The recruits were following behind. Hubert sighted the ginger hair of Ariana a few times as Lady Edelgard was talking vividly with Byleth. She kept a good rhythm up so she could hang with Caspar and Bernadetta who were in the second carriage. 

‘She must be complaining about how unfair it is…’ he thought while laughs and voices resonated from there. Caspar left his seat a few times so she could rest her feet. Hubert could see her better this way as she was sitting beside Bernadetta. Linhardt was sleeping. Dorothea was giggling with Ariana. Petra was trying to follow all their conversation the best she could. They were definitely not taking this mission seriously, even after all that had happened to them the last time in Hubert’s opinion. He often forgot that most of them were three years younger than him. He was gazing at the animation of their carriage for an instant until his eyes crossed the ginger-haired recruit’s ones. She smiled at him and waved discreetly. Bernadetta turned to look at who she was gesticulating and screech from fright almost immediately. A light chuckle escaped his lungs but he managed to hide as a small cough. 

‘Hubert?’ a voice resonated beside him. Lady Edelgard was fixing him intensely.

‘I apologise, I was lost in my thoughts for an instant. What were you talking about?’ he declared as he turned his head, leaving the agitation behind.

‘Don’t you think it is strange that all these people are trying to steal Heroes’ relics lately? First the Sword of the Creator and now the lance from the House Gautier.’ she repeated as she was lightly frowning. 

‘It is definitely troubling, yet it is to the Church’s advantage. The professor now possesses one of the most terrifying weapons ever created.’ he added, a pinch of distrust could be sensed in his voice. 

They continued talking until the night was there. The tents were installed by the recruits as the last time. Some of them were playing childish games by the fire, to wait until the food was ready. They were consisting of charades and private questions which were mostly uninteresting in his opinion. Yet, Lady Edelgard actually got convinced to join along and almost everyone was appreciating their time together. Hubert was trying to read and was disturbed by the sound too much to even concentrate. He made a few steps in direction of his tent when he met Ariana walking back from there with Caspar. Hubert wondered for an instant what they could have been doing. His thoughts got quickly interrupted.

‘Are you going to sleep this early? Don’t you like games at all?’ she asked while smiling at him. 

‘Not these futile ones.’ he groaned while observing her. He never realised how small she was without her armour compared to him.

‘What do you like to play then?’ she continued with her interrogation. It was difficult to stop her whenever she had an idea in her head. Stubbornness was not a quality according to him. 

He did not respond to her when Dorothea jumped from behind them. She had seen their private meeting and got curious about it immediately. 

‘Hubie likes to play Chess! Edie told me about it once!’ she declared while chuckling. The noise she made started to attract other members of the house. 

Ariana’s eyes got wider the instant she finished her phrase. And her smile made Hubert uneasy, she had definitely something on her mind and this never meant good news.

‘Do you actually have a set there? I have not played against someone since so long.’ she revealed as both her hands were clapping slightly filled with enthusiasm. 

At this view, a small groan left his throat uncontrollably. He was not particularly looking for this sudden attention from her, especially with everyone around. His heart pinched a bit. He was unsure of this situation, yet he was intrigued by the outcome of a possible game against her.

‘What is going on Hubert, you never say no to a game of Chess normally.’ Lady Edelgard’s voice resonated from behind. Hubert turned around to see her chuckling at him, both her arms crossed. 

‘Maybe you are scared that she will make you eat dirt again.’ commented Caspar while laughing out loud. Hubert glowered at him which stopped him immediately. 

‘If you are too scared to lose, it’s alright Hubert. I will not take it personally if you don’t want to play with me.’ Ariana asserted while a snarky smile was drawing itself on her face. He got to his tent, leaving them laughing behind him. He searched in his bag, he always travelled with a small set since he was a child. It was one of the only game he found truly entertaining. He returned, sighing heavily not truly sure of what he was doing at this instant. 

‘Hubert seemed to be accepting your challenge Ari!’ shouted Caspar as he noticed him arriving with the small box. Bernadetta shivered beside him at the view of him coming back.

‘If you are going to play such a serious game, you should at least made it interesting for the others.’ declared Dorothea while she was thinking of it. ‘You should make a bet-' she could not finish her sentence that Ariana’s eyebrow raised the highest it could. 

‘If I win… You and the other students will let us use the carriages tomorrow. You will be the one walking.’ she suggested, as the other recruits were chanting behind her at her proposition. Her arms were crossed as a sign of defiance. An enormous smile was encircled by her freckles.

‘I am not in place to bet for all the other’s sake.’ he responded coldly. He found the first excuse as he hated gambling of any sorts. 

‘Well, as the House leader, I can do it. Anyone has an idea to make this interesting?’ Lady Edelgard declared while starting to argue with the others behind Hubert. 

‘Alright. After a short deliberation, if you lose, you will all have to prepare the food for the three next days. Moreover, Ari, you will have to give up on sweets for the entire time of our trip.’ She declared as almost all the members were supporting her. Hubert guessed that the latest part had been added by Caspar. 

The ginger-haired recruit turned around to look at her crewmate, they all nodded. 

‘It is a deal.’ she added while staring at him. This was getting way bigger than it was supposed to. 

Hubert did not even have the time to say anything that Lady Edelgard had already shaken his opponent’s hand in his place. 

Byleth was designated to be the referee, as Ariana was suspicious of Hubert. She kept commenting that if he cheated even once, the game was over. To choose who was playing which colour, the professor took two pieces behind her back. By a hand gesture, he allowed Ariana to pick first. She would open the game as a white pawn was revealed by the teacher.

They settled the board beside the fire. Hubert thought that maybe he could pull the Fool’s mate and eliminate her only in two moves. However, she seemed to be better than to fall in such an obvious trap. By protecting her opening using her knight, she managed to block his Queen.

‘I am offended that you were thinking to defeat me so easily.’ she muttered while staring at the board. He did not answer as he was too concentrated. 

The crowd was very enthusiastic at first, but after a few minutes that the game had started, the food was ready and the started to eat around them. 

His Confidence rose as a groan erupted from her stomach. She was starving and this would probably affect her performance. 

‘Being hungry only motivates me to destroy you. The quicker it’s finished, the quicker I will have food in my mouth.’ she declared, reacting to the noise emitted by her body. Her comment annoyed him as she was too arrogant in his opinion. He would not let her win.

They had both castled their King at this moment of the game. She managed to put him in a dangerous position a few times. She was a way better player than he had thought of her. Discussing strategy is something completely different than playing chess. His best option to win was that she did a blunder by being too arrogant and lose a high-rank piece unconsciously. Yet, she seemed to be less impulsive when she was playing chess, more thoughtful of her action. The game absorbed her eyes, and her hand was lightly stroking her chin. Every time a chess piece was moved, her nostrils flared. Hubert had noticed that she did that usually when she was concentrating or if she was upset about anything. Some strokes of hair were escaping her braids. She was putting them back as they obstructed her sight. 

‘It’s your turn Hubert.’ she said while smiling at him slightly. Their eyes met before he could return to the game. His heart beat a little harder at this moment, he was uneasy with the sensation.

‘That much excitation for a simple game, how pathetic…’ he thought while he moved his bishop, putting one of her knights in danger. 

They were getting close to the end as Caspar was starting to get impatient and was making jokes around them. Dorothea was also singing not far away. This could be his chance to push her to do a mistake he thought, as his yellow eyes were shining from the flames of the fire. 

However, she managed to take his Queen with her last Knight. With his finger, he pressed on his temple to help him think. Her movement was extremely offensive, yet it left her King even more in the open. This was the crucial moment. He moved his last bishop to force her King to protect himself. It allowed him to take her last Knight while still menacing her defence. There was nothing left she could do at this point.

‘Checkmate.’ he gloated as a wry smile appeared on his face as he placed his bishop for his final move. Her eyes were still observing the board, surely looking if he really had won. Everyone approached to discover the outcome. Some of the recruits were exclaiming themselves loudly, disappointed by the result. 

‘That was a fantastic game! Your last turns were brilliant.’ she said while laughing. She offered her hand so they could shake on it. He reached out for it, surprised by her good mood. 

‘Oh and by the way, I have no idea how to cook, so jokes on you all.’ she exclaimed to the students. It made her comrades laugh and forget about this whole bet. Her smile was calming all the recruits who were moaning. 

Caspar handed her a bowl immediately. She complained a few times about having lost the game, yet she was chuckling while she was talking with everyone around her. 

‘So warm…’ thought Hubert while looking at her from the other side of the campfire. Weirdly, his heart was still pounding even after the game was finished.

The moon was high in the sky when the lasts one decided to join their tents. Which made the morning difficult for some of them. They packed the tents and left in direction of their objective. During the day, they got joined by Gilbert, a Kingdom’s ally supposed to help them on their quest. 

After two more days, the Tower was finally within sight. The recruits were demotivated by the long walk. Even Ariana was not keeping up with the rhythm of the carriage anymore and was staying behind with her comrades. The rain was not helping with moral either. Since their first day, it has been constantly pouring water. The Black Eagle members were protected in their carriage, however, the recruits were suffering deeply of the weather condition. 

‘We have to attack immediately! They have spotted us and are getting ready for our action!’ shouted Gilbert as the carriages stopped and thunder growled in the distance. Byleth and everyone descended to observe the dramatic scenery while the recruits joined them to install their camp. Time was running out and they needed to prepare themselves quickly. 

The recruits put on their armour urgently. Everyone was waiting for Byleth’s orders. Gilbert had explained to them how many bandits they should be expecting inside. They did not have the terrain advantage as they would need to climb the tower’s many steps.

The soldiers’ shields were covering their walk to the battle as volleys of arrows were shoot at them. Once they had crossed the threshold of the building, they spread into their attributed position.

Attaining the top of the tower took them some time as they were advancing cautiously. Hubert’s position was in the middle this time with Dorothea, closer to Lady Edelgard. His deadly laugh could be heard on the whole battleground as he was casting spell on anyone approaching too close. The soldiers were divided between the front row and the last, supporting the students. 

Upon climbing the last steps, they sighted Miklan, shooting furiously orders at the bandits. His voice was resonating within the building, making shiver some of the recruits in the front line. The ginger hair of Ariana could be seen easily from where Hubert’s stood. Her sword was parrying all the attacks she was receiving. Her feet were withstanding charges from heavy foes impressively. Her role was to slow down opponents arriving at Lady Edelgard and the others on the front row. 

As Byleth had reached the relic’s thief, suddenly, some dark energy started to build up all around. They were all gathering in a group, watching the unthinkable happen before their eyes.

‘What the hell?’ Miklan howled as the red and black matter was flowing from the mythic weapon engulfing his entire body. 

Screams were erupting from his lungs, they were not human anymore. Scales were appearing on his body as a red light was shining in the room. Hubert ran to Lady Edelgard’s position immediately. Ariana was shielding Caspar beside her as other recruits were doing the same for the other members in the front line. 

‘What is happening Professor?’ shooted Lady Edelgard, her dark servant was preparing a spell already. Byleth did not have the time to answer as a giant dark beast had appeared in front of them. Screams of terror could be heard from all around the room. Even a small gasp escaped from Hubert at this view. The bandits were fleeing in front of the atrocity.

A roar originating from another world reverberated all around them. The monster charged at them furiously, stamping on its allies in the process. Everyone else avoided the attack by plunging on each side of the creature. It was unstoppable, smashing anything on its way and was dangerously approaching Linhardt and Bernadetta. 

Suddenly, a metallic shock resonated in the room. Ari was smashing her sword on her shield, desperately trying to draw the monster’s attention away from her friend. Caspar imitated her immediately, the sound grew bigger finally stopping the creature’s pace. It painfully turned himself around facing their direction. It was enraged, but not smart and its big size was preventing him from moving too much.

Hubert understood her strategy, yet was infuriated that she was putting Lady Edelgard in danger with her reckless behaviour. The beast was now charging at them but was stopped in the middle of the room as Byleth attacked it with the Sword of the Creator. It became even madder after enduring the attack. It would need them a lot more to stop this dark monster. It was stamping around as some of the closer recruits were caught by surprise under its feet. One had the misfortune to get lifted from the ground until reaching the monster’s jaws. Bloodcurdling screams were shrilling everyone’s ears as his body got torn in half. Dorothea cast a spell, interrupting its thirst of blood. It was heavily affected by magic, however, this made his wrath only bigger as he started to charge her. Linhardt managed to use his magic to teleport her out of danger. This left an opening for Ferdinand and Petra to attack it with their blades. They only had the time for one hit each, the dark beast turned itself again, charging in Lady Edelgard and Hubert’s direction. He cast a spell last minute which slow down the creature. Byleth led the assault on the monster and others followed her impulse as it was struggling to move. His yellow eyes were witnessing all the weapons landing on the monster’s scales. 

With an abrupt movement of its tail, it pushed Ferdinand, Petra and Byleth afar. Leaving Lady Edelgard and Caspar with some recruits at its mercy. The creature raised up to its full height and howled, heavily stomping the ground when returning on its four legs. He caught another recruit and threw it on the side while the two axe wielders were running on the other direction. The blue-haired unit fell heavily on the ground as he tripped in its race. 

‘Hubert – Do something!’ shouted Lady Edelgard at her dark servant while still running. He obeyed immediately and was preparing another enchantment. He observed Ariana’s shield raised against the beast, trying to help Caspar to get up. His magic was not quick enough as the monster reached them.

‘Miklan, I am sure you are in there. There is still human in you.’ she shouted at the sinister beast. Her small body was ridiculous in front of the immense creature.

‘Such a fool’ muttered Hubert under his breath. His tome was still in preparation, yet he could do nothing to prevent it for now. 

However, it did stop running. The scaly atrocity was standing in front of her, observing the small being standing there, her shield raised. Everyone stayed silent, froze by this sight. The only sound in the room was the heavy breaths emerging from the monster nostrils, every exhalation was moving Ariana’s hair. His head started to approach dangerously from her, sniffing her, almost as he was sensing her presence. 

A metallic sound resonated not far behind her, as Caspar was struggling to get up. This made the creature slightly react, drawing its attention to the axe wielder for an instant.

‘Miklan, you are there, you have to fight It.’ these surreal words were escaping her mouth, troubling everyone around. The blue-haired noble was standing behind her, preparing his axe to land a blow. She was stepping back, slowly, still repeating his name calmly. However, while doing so, her feet hit a sword on the ground, which startled deeply the monster as he started roaring again. 

‘Run Caspar!’ she ordered her friend while turning away quickly to escape. 

‘Now Hubert!’ shooted Lady Edelgard as her sinister servant cast his most powerful spell on the atrocity in front of them. A terrifying screeched escaped from it as the magic attained him. It was even more furious than before. 

By a quick and desperate gesture, he managed to grab Ariana. A scream resonated in the room. Her legs were kicking around relentlessly, to liberate herself from its grip. However, it was useless. He was raising her above the ground, until she was at his jaws level, facing his face.

Suddenly, an arrow landed exactly in his eye. A roar even more ghastly than the previous ones pierced through their ears. He let the ginger-haired soldier fall on the ground as he was trying to remove the object planted in his flesh franticly. This was the moment to finish it, Hubert thought as he was preparing another spell. However, Byleth was already taking care of it, accompanied by Ferdinand and Petra. They put their final blow and the creature finally laid on the ground. 

Its last breath left its throat, it was finally over. The nightmare was finished. The hero’s relic revealed itself as the scally skin disappeared from Miklan’s heavily wounded corpse.  
They all stood an instant in silence, reflecting on what had just happened to them. 

Lady Edelgard ran to their professor to congratulate her of their victory, leaving Hubert behind. Ferdinand and Petra had joined them. He was observing the battleground calmly. Bernadetta was still petrified as Caspar had walked to her, shooting at her how impressive she had been. What was left of the recruits were running to attend their comrades’ wounds. They had lost two of their members today. Screams were erupting from their group. Linhardt was healing with his magic when it was possible. Dorothea was by his side, supporting them with her powers.

His eyes landed over the body of the torn recruit. The gruesome view was alarming anyone around. A fate no-one desired to experience, and yet Ariana unconsciously almost lived the same. He was furious at her comportment during this battle. How could she possibly think that it was possible to reason this creature? While these thoughts crossed his mind, he saw that she was laying on the ground, alone. He turned his head to witness Bernadetta still in shock on the other side of the room, crying while Caspar was trying his best to help her. 

His feet walked slowly to her body, to check if she was still alive. It must have hurt when she fell, but definitely not kill her. He inspected her from his height. Both her arms were stretched perpendicularly to her torso. Her breaths were heavy, and tears were streaming down her cheeks quietly. 

‘Are you dead?’ his voice made her eyes opened wide. She muttered something inaudibly and got up while drying her tears. Her legs were trembling intensively, her arm could barely hold her shield. She was trying to detach it, yet was not able to as her hands were shivering too much. Her body was heavily swinging, her feet were slipping under her weight. An impatient groan escaped her mouth as she was struggling to untie the leather straps. 

Hubert looked again in direction of her friends if they were coming soon to take care of her but it seemed that they were too preoccupied. Bernadetta was still immobile, muttering strange words. Caspar was getting so flustered that he had asked Byleth for some help. 

By a sudden movement, he helped her to remove her shield. He left it on the ground. She was not even capable to look at him directly and tears were still flowing from her eyes. She turned around, in direction of their defeated foe’s corpse. Her steps were weak, crushed under the weight of her armour. Hubert hesitated what to do at this moment. Everyone seemed too occupied, and she appeared just… disoriented. He never had seen anyone act like that before, mostly because he was never the one attending to soldiers. He quickly checked from afar what Lady Edelgard was doing, she was supporting Dorothea as she was caring over Ferdinand and Petra minor injuries from the beast’s tail swing. 

Ariana had already walked a few meters away from him. 

‘Stop walking it will not help.’ he said coldly at her while joining her. He thought that she was being stubborn again. No sound came out of her. 

‘Why are you not sitting down, I will search for someone to help you.’ he declared, trying to at least have a reaction from her. She finally ceased to advance aimlessly, her body was still struggling to maintain proper balance. 

‘This should never happen to anyone else…’ she muttered under her breath while staring into nothing. Her eyes appeared different as if life has left her body.

‘What are you talking about?’ he asked as she was not making a lot of sense.

‘Miklan, this should never have happened.’ she said, her fists clenched and tears started to stream again down her cheeks. 

‘I agree.’ he responded while sighing heavily. He had nothing else to say to her.

‘I could have done more.’ her voice was trembling 

‘You acted foolishly today Ariana, there was no way to bring him back.’ he was getting annoyed by her sudden saviour complex. This was not a useful feeling to have on a battlefield, even more, if they were fighting monsters. 

‘I did all that to protect Caspar. If I had not tried that, we would have both been crushed. So yeah foolish me sure. But it only proves that Miklan was there inside. It would never have worked otherwise.’ her tone raised as she turned to finally face him. 

‘I… You are right. But no, you could not have done more. Stop pitying yourself, we have to go help the others.’ he exclaimed as her eyes were looking at him directly. They stared at each other for a moment, howls and sobs were resonating around them. 

‘I am sorry, Hubert.’ she said as all the colours of her face disappeared suddenly. She had used her last resource. Her knees were shaking, her body could not hold much longer. His arms stretched without thinking twice to catch her. He was holding her difficulty by her waist. His fingers were pressing on her cold chainmail. Her head landed on his chest which made his heartbeat accelerate. He was not used to human contact, moreover from a fainted recruit. 

Fortunately, Caspar ran to hold her and laid her on the ground with the help of Bernadetta who finally got out of her panic attack. Hubert disappeared as soon as he could, flustered from this interaction. He finally joined Lady Edelgard again. Returning to her side was definitely reassuring. Filling his duty as a loyal servant was what he knew to do best. However, his heart was still pounding, leaving him a strange feeling all over his body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you think of it? I took a bit of a different approach than the game when the students are fighting the dark beast. 
> 
> I really wanted to write more about the atrocity of someone changing in front of them into a monster. 
> 
> I really hope you have liked this chapter! Thank you so much for reading my fic!
> 
> I am trying to really be the closest to Hubert's personality. He is cold but still cares about others around him, but tries not to show it. So his relationship with Ariana will clearly take a lot of time to truly develop. 
> 
> I think I am progressing in my writing and my texts are getting better in my opinion! Tell me in the comments on what I can work on in your opinion! Or if you have any suggestions about the plot, I would love to hear them!


	8. A scream in the Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ari wakes up after having passed out. She joins the Black Eagles beside the campfire. They talk about what happened during the day. Ari is scolded to have been too imprudent. 
> 
> On their way back, Dorothea understands that Ariana is developing feelings for a certain sinister classmate. There is some development about other members relationship too. 
> 
> Hubert is forced to stay part of the night in Bernie's room accompanied by Ari. They discover more about each other and get comfortable around. The ginger-haired recruit finally starts to acknowledge her feelings for him. Yet she cannot pursue them... at least for now.

### Chapter VIII – A scream in the Night

Plates and cutlery were clinging from not too far away, annoying her ears. Her eyes opened, everything was dark around her. She looked around her, two other figures were lying beside her.

She quickly put her leather boots on and walked out of the tent. Her iris hurt as the fire was burning high, she protected them with her hand. Some noises erupted from around her, she recognised some of the members of the Black Eagles eating around the campfire with the recruits. 

‘Oh Sleepyhead, you are finally awake!’ shouted Caspar from the other side of the flames. Ari could not give him any attention, as Bernie was running at her already. Her arms wrapped her body without any notice. Her embrace was warm, she would not let her go. 

‘Thank you Bernie…’ she whispered in her ear. Some light sobs were emerging from her friend. She finally let her go and accompanied her to the fire camp to sit with everyone else. Caspar handed her some food and cutlery. 

‘So how was it to be so close to this monster’s jaws?’ Dorothea asked her, while she started to eat. Her limbs were still aching, as she was struggling to bring the spoon to her mouth.  
‘How long have I been unconscious?’ she painfully asked ignoring her friend’s question. She was not in the mood to talk about that, and actually, at this moment, she was not really sure what had happened to her. 

‘Three hours, maybe four in maximum.’ answered Linhardt who was sitting close to Dorothea on her right.

‘You were completely out of your mind back there.’ said Edelgard, while heavily frowning at her. She was sitting on the other side of the fire. Byleth was slightly nodding beside her.  
‘I am sorry.’ Ari muttered while moving the food in her plate. Her knees were still trembling a bit. 

‘But you did save Caspar, you were very courageous. Thank you.’ added Byleth. The face of the ginger-haired girl lighten up a bit, the professor never talked to her outside of orders normally. Her body started to get a bit warmer.  
‘So I want to know how it was to have been raised by the beast!’ exclaimed Dorothea louder than before.  
‘Huh… it was…’ she was trying to find words in her head when she got interrupted. 

‘If she does not want to answer, she does not have too.’ Hubert’s cold voice emerged from beside Lady Edelgard. Their eyes met, but quickly he looked away from her. She was as surprised as other members of the Black Eagles.

‘Thank you Hubert… but I am not completely sure what to tell you. It was surreal.’ she explained, still playing with the food on her plate. Bernie made her a sign that she should be eating a bit. Ari was a bit flustered that she was the one taking care of her for once, it was… nice. 

‘It was impressive to see in any case.’ declared Ferdinand, he was continuing by praising his heroic act but Ariana stopped to listen to focus on her food.

Lady Edelgard walked by her when she had finished eating. She sat beside her, pushing Bernie a bit. 

‘Ariana? Sorry I have been too cold before. It was definitely foolish of you to have faced the monster alone. But you followed your instincts and it saved Caspar. How did you manage to stay calm in front of this creature is just unbelievable.’ she was talking while looking intensely in her eyes. Ariana could feel Hubert’s glance from the other side of the campfire. 

‘Thank you, Edelgard. I- I am unsure why I tried that. It just seemed like the only choice at the moment. I am sorry if I have caused any trouble.’ Ariana was painfully trying to explain her action.  
‘It worked surprisingly. Have you already faced a monster like that before?’ Edelgard asked as she was slightly smiling at her. The violet of her eyes was enhanced by the flames burning not far from them.

‘No, not like that.’ the last words escaped her. It was too late as she asked what she meant by that. 

‘My village was once attacked by a similar creature when I was younger. It destroyed our house but it got taken down by the Knight of Seiros.’ she explained while sighing. These were not memories she wanted to remember now. 

‘That is very intriguing. You are from a small village in the north? There is no reason for a monster to appear there…’ she was reflecting on her story while holding her chin with her fingers.  
‘Anyway… see you later Ari, I am looking forward to training with you whenever we are back at the Academy!’ she was chuckling as she joined back her dark servant. 

The night was long, the ginger-haired recruit barely found sleep. Her mind was too occupied by all that happened today. She was reliving her confrontation with the beast over and over. It was true that she had been too unconscious.

She got up at dawn and started to prepare her bag silently as others were still sleeping. Byleth allowed them to as everyone needed to rest after their mission. 

She got out of her tent, walked to the campfire. She recognised the dark hair of the Black Eagles student, reading. She sat on the opposite of the flames, after having added a log into the centre. She was trying to warm her fingers up by rubbing them. She got up again to grab a fruit from their provisions and while returning back, she felt the intense glance from Hubert on her. 

She walked to him, thinking that it was maybe an invitation for a conversation. She sat beside him and started to eat her apple. 

‘Stop this annoying noise, please.’ he muttered still reading his paper. 

‘S-Sorry. I thought you wanted to talk.’ she stuttered, troubled by his coldness. He was always cold, but he had become a bit easier to communicate with these last few weeks. He sighed a bit.

‘Hm. No, it’s... It’s not you. I haven’t got my coffee yet.’ he declared while rubbing his temples. He got up and put some water to boil on the fire. He came back with something wrapped in a napkin and handed it to her. With her fingers, she discovered a small pastry inside. 

‘I am not supposed to eat any sweets, I have lost the game remember?’ she muttered, frowning as she knew she could not have it. 

‘Well I won the bet, I will allow you to have this one.’ he told her as he was preparing his coffee equipment. He had a whole silver travel set, in a small case. 

‘I would have thought you would try to poison me less obviously.’ she chuckled as her eyes were observing his weird routine.

‘It is then proof that it is not poison.’ He answered coldly. The water was not heating fast enough and he was sighing. 

‘Are you going to eat it or not?’ he asked while staring at her. Her lips were tightened, she was torn as she did not appreciate to cheat on their bet, yet she really wanted to have a something sweet in her mouth. 

‘Thank you, Hubert.’ she said while taking her first bite. The texture was a little bit dry, as it had been baked before they had left Garreg Mach. They transported a lot of different food with them, so the students would be comfortable enough. They had run out of this particular fruit cake a few days ago, Ari wondered if Hubert had kept a slice especially for her. 

Once the water was boiling, she was thoroughly observing his little ritual. He had grounded some beans beforehand and had poured the water over them in a small version of the coffee press he used in the academy. He pushes it the all the way, extracting the aromas and the colour. Once he had finished to let it infuse, he poured it in his cup. He brought the beverage to his lips, his eyes met the ones of the ginger-haired recruit. They looked at each other an instant before Hubert broke the silence between them. 

‘Why are you fixing me like that?’ he asked as his eyebrows frowned a little bit. 

‘You are very sweet.’ she said while smiling at him, her eyes blinked a few times before she got a reaction from Hubert. His body clenched entirely, which made Ari chuckled lightly. His face was still showing his usual coldness, but she could decipher a tension in him. 

The sensation of the cake in her mouth was nice, she needed a boost for today and this was just perfect. She was looking at the small fire for a moment when she heard him coughing lightly. Her head turned as she was taken away from her thoughts.

‘I wanted to apologise for the tone I used yesterday. You were indeed very courageous. If Caspar had died, Lady Edelgard would have been deeply affected by his loss as for the other Black Eagles.’ he expressed while looking away. Her heart was beating a bit too much for her taste. She knew what it meant, but she was not pleased about it. 

‘Yet you are extremely lucky to have survived. Don’t you have any consideration for your life at all? You are always bothered by sacrificing other’s life in strategy and here you went ahead without thinking about yourself.’ he argued, this time a clear unpleasantness could be heard in his voice. 

‘I… Thank you, Hubert, for your honesty. Sacrificing myself if I can protect my friends is not a big cost…’ she explained as he eyes were facing her feet. A heavy sighed escaped her lungs. 

‘Your life and the other recruits are worth as much as the Nobles, except for Lady Edelgard obviously. You know my opinion on this matter.’ he added. She could not look at him, shame was filling her body. The thought of her mother crossed her mind, what would she say about that. She stayed silent for an instant, reflecting on this discussion. She was not used to being scolded by him like that. 

Tears were starting to rise in her eyes. She did not wanted to cry, moreover not in front of him. She needed to be stronger and to prove her value. However, water was flowing without any possible control. She was sniffling as discreetly as she could, but when the image of her comrades who had perished yesterday appeared in her head she could not hold it anymore. 

‘Are… Are you alright?’ she could feel his cold glance over her. Her legs got up as a reflex, with her hands she was franticly wiping her tears away. A sensation made her look behind her. He was patting her shoulder, slightly. His jaws were clenched and his movement were rigid. 

‘What… What are you doing?’ she asked, while her eyebrows were raising at his sight. 

‘You seem to be someone who get comforted by physical contact as the hug with Bernadetta yesterday showed. You already had given me once permission to touch your left shoulder. This appeared to be the best solution to stop your crying.’ he explained while looking slightly away. She chuckled at his answer, this was definitely the most awkward situation she had ever experienced with another human being. Yet, a smile drew itself on her face and her tears faded away. 

Lady Edelgard got out of her tent, while the two were facing each other. Some other members of the Black Eagles arrived for their breakfast not a lot after her. They all started to eat, Ari sat with Caspar and Bernadetta when they came, on the other side of the fire camp. 

Everyone helped to pack the tents and the rest. The two wounded recruits were moved in one of the carriages. They were still resting as their wounds were deep. They both got trampled by the monster, which broke some of their bones. Linhardt did the best he could, but they would need Manuela’s help.

They used the second carriage to put all their equipment, everyone was going to walk this time. Ari’s body was lighter, she was happy not to have anything pressing her down. Her muscles were still hurting and her knees were not completely supporting her. When they were going down hills, Caspar would support her by lending his shoulder. He proposed to carry her but she refused instantly. Their interaction attracted some glances, including Hubert’s dead glare. 

‘You know that Caspar is strong enough to hold you, he managed to bring me on the other side of the Monastery someday.’ declared Bernadetta, not aware that Dorothea was listening to them.  
‘He did so? Hm?’ asked the browned-haired opera singer to their small group. Caspar blushed heavily and muttered an unconvincing answer about saving Bernie’s life. Ari laughed a bit, he had confessed that he was developing feelings for their common friend on the first night of their mission. She gave him a few advice but she did not want to create any false hope. Her friendship with Bernie did not involve talking about this kind of matter. 

‘Yes, but he is not the only one. Hubert also carried me around the other day.’ she added as a loud exclamation escaped both Ari and Caspar. 

‘What- why did that happened?’ interrogated the blue-haired noble, trying very badly to hide his jealousy. 

‘Huh. I- I don’t remember. I just fainted and I woke up in my room. I assumed that he moved me around.’ she explained as her finger was playing with her hair. She was getting flustered of Caspar’s gesticulation. Ari’s lips were pouting, Dorothea immediately saw it. 

‘Something is bothering you dear?’ one of her eyebrows was raising as the question left her mouth. 

‘No… I just find it unbelievable don’t you?’ she answered while closing her eyes, trying to hide her surprise. 

‘Well we can ask Hubie himself, don’t you think?’ she chuckled, she had clearly something on her mind. 

She walked to the front where Byleth, Ferdinand, Edelgard and his sinister servant were while holding Ari’s wrist. Her body was trying to fight her grasp, but she was too tired to liberate herself.

‘Do you need anything my dear Dorothea?’ the ginger-haired noble asked while smiling at them as the others were looking in their direction. 

‘I have not come for you Ferdinand you know it quite well.’ Ari did not recognise her friend, Dorothea was always so nice and polite usually. 

‘I have come for Hubie. We wondered if it was true that you carried Bernie to bring her to her room?’ her expression made the question even more uncomfortable than it was already. 

‘Well yes absolutely. She had passed out in front of me, I was not going to leave her in the middle of the monastery alone. I did merely my duty. Why this question?’ his eyes were looking at the ginger-haired recruit. 

‘Huh-‘the sound escaped her mouth as she was staring at him. Her heart was accelerating as his eyes were laying on her. 

‘Well, Ari doesn’t want to be carried around by Caspar when we are walking down on slopes. Maybe you would be able to help her then?’ she exclaimed with a snarky smile on her face. Ari’s neck went rigid in an instant. 

‘Well I do understand why she doesn’t want to be touched by Caspar. However she is more than capable to walk. And if she is too tired, she can still use a carriage.’ he answered coldly, clearly getting annoyed by the silly questions from Dorothea. 

‘And if she really needs help, I am sure that she will ask for it herself and not rely on you for that.’ he added while turning his head. Edelgard was chuckling by his side, which seemed to confuse Hubert a bit. All the colour of Ari’s face had left at this instant. She could barely think as her mind was full of fog. She was regretting not to have been eaten by the beast yesterday, at least she would not have had to live through that awkward conversation.

They both waited for the rest of the group and got joined by Linhardt and Petra. 

Dorothea was still holding her wrist as she was giggling loudly. She did not say anything more about Hubert, yet Ari knew that she was not thinking less. She left her to talk to the others after a while. Bernie finally joined her, and they walked in silence. 

They camped during the night and walked during the days. It took them a bit longer than on their way to the tower as everyone was exhausted. It rained a bit more and some path were not easy to walk on as they became very slippery. Hopefully, Ari's legs had found their strength back. She did not need anyone’s help to finish the trip, and it was way better like that she thought. 

They finally arrived at Garreg Mach for the weekend. The Black Eagles had met at the Library to discuss all the recent events, and the recruits were sent to the infirmary. Manuela was alarmed by their condition and Alois was once again furious against Rhea. He had already lost four recruits from their carelessness and was hoping that the two sent to the infirmary would not add up to this number.

The Knights held a ceremony in honour of the fallen, it was very small but appreciated by all. She had approached herself a lot during the last mission to her comrades. It was difficult to get attached, as she knew most of them would not be there at the end of the year, however it was nice to hang around people with the same troubles. She could not share her reading passion, or play chess with them, but she felt that they were genuine in their interaction with her. Moreover, she was reassured not to be alone too often, strange rumours were coming from the villages around. A dark figure had been seen prowling the streets, murdering innocents.

As the next month arrived, a tragedy struck the Academy. Seteth’s sister Flayn disappeared and everyone was already accusing this sinister shadow to be responsible. Byleth and the Black Eagles were the one in charge to investigate on the matter. The archbishop imposed a curfew before the night had fallen in order to protect every student until this dark affair was resolved.  
Ari spent most her time reassuring Bernie as she was terrified of encountering this creature from another world. She would accompany her everywhere, to the point to even spend the night in her room sometimes to be sure that she would be sleeping. The hardest part was managing to make her go out of it in the morning, yet she was very courageous in her opinion. 

Byleth went to interrogate everyone present in the Academy to find Flayn. She came a morning to talk to the recruits, asking if they had witnessed anything out of the ordinary. The professor took her in private after the session, which surprised Ari a bit. 

‘Your three roommates have told me that you did not sleep in your bed these last few nights.’ she declared while looking at her. Her facial expression were often hard to decipher as she was most of the time neutral. The ginger-haired recruit explained everything and she did seem to trust her. Yet it was unpleasant to figure on the list of suspects. Byleth nodded to her and left. 

The next few weeks, a few villagers from around the monastery got attacked by the dark figure, some students had witnessed it inside the building. Garreg Mach always had the reputation to be an impregnable fortress. The idea of someone sneaking in and abducting students was making everyone uneasy and extremely careful. 

In the end, Bernadetta asked her to stay in her room every night. Ari would sleep on the floor, next to her bed with a blanket and a cushion. She was not allowed to bring weapons outside the training ground or mission, but she managed to sneak a dagger and hid it close to her, just in case. 

Her limbs were tensed after all the uncomfortable nights she had spent. She was missing her bed, but she had promised to Bernie to be there for her. The days at least went better, Alois was very proud of her progress on the training ground. Her muscles had grown quite a bit since the beginning of the year. And more people wanted to train with her, as the rumour of her duel with the dark beast had travelled all around the Monastery. It depicted her in a heroic image not at all realistic from what had happened. She tried to correct everyone who came up to her with it, but it was too late. At least, that way she could spend more time with Dedue and the rest of the Blue Lions. Felix challenged her a lot, Sylvain invited her to join their table often. She also met Annette and Mercedes, they were very sweet with her, giving her pastries and some advice. Ingrid even made her try to ride a Pegasus once and it was thrilling. She still had to properly learn how to horse ride before even thinking about this new class. 

Caspar was often making comments about her spending time with other houses members when she was joining the Black Eagles for supper. She brushed it off and laughed about it.  
‘Are you going to abandon me Ari?’ asked Bernie with tears appearing around her eyes in front of all the others.

‘Of course not, even after the Academy, when I will become a Knight, I will come to see you whenever I can. I was even thinking that I could become your protector once I am powerful enough and don’t need to obey anyone.’ she answered, smiling at her friend. She engaged herself with the Church and had an obligation to follow their orders. At least until she would become a Great Knight. She would be still fighting for them but she could chose her battles and missions. 

Caspar reassured Bernadetta that he could be the one protecting her, but she was clearly oblivious about the reason. This made Dorothea giggled and Ari joined her. As they finished their meals, she remembered a book she wanted to find in the library before the curfew. Her legs were running fast as she only had a few more minutes left. 

Her fingers were strolling the bookshelves for a moment until she found it behind other dusty volumes. The History of Fodlan – War and ideologies was written in golden letters on the leather bound, slightly scrapped. Hubert had mentioned it a few times and she wanted to have finish it before their next strategy discussion. The pages turned quickly in her hands, as Tomas appeared behind her. She needed his approval before borrowing the book. Her question resonated in the empty library. 

‘Of course, you can. However you should hurry to go back to your room, otherwise you will get into trouble young girl.’ he answered, a light smile was drawn on his face. He was a very sweet old librarian in her opinion, full of advice. Ari did not understand how Hubert did not like him. Every time he was in the Library, he was ignoring him or glowering at him. 

She thanked him, packed the book under her arm and closed the door behind her. It was already dark in the corridors, she had not seen the time passed. A shiver went through her body as she was walking quietly in direction of Bernie’s bedroom. It was quite far away, and she needed to be cautious not to be caught by the patrolling Knights or worst… 

Footsteps and armours resonated around the hallway, she managed to hide at the last minute. Two guards were walking with torches as she was hiding behind a pillar. Her legs were shaking slightly, and she managed to keep her breath inside until they were far enough. Her eyes were following them from afar while continuing on her way. 

She went downstairs and heard other noises coming from the first floor. She needed to find another way as some Knights were standing there, joking and talking loudly. Ari was annoyed that they were not doing their duty properly, but she was even more annoyed to have to go back upstairs and find another way to go down. 

She was strolling discreetly the halls trying to find the other staircase. She knew they were close, but the Academy by night was looking very different than by day. She did not recognise all the different corridors, moreover she was getting too close to the professors bedroom. She returned on her steps, to see if the Knights were still there as she could not find another way to join Bernie’s room.  
She heard some footsteps coming in her direction. As she was looking for a place to hide, her arm got grabbed by an unknown force. A small noise escaped from her lungs but it got captured by a gloved hand that landed over her mouth. Her eyes inspected the unknown figure, hidden by the darkness, it was Hubert. Her heart was beating heavily, while both her forearms were pressed again his torso. He was holding her body close to his with one arm as the other was still covering her mouth. 

They waited a moment for the Knights who were patrolling to leave, hiding behind a pillar. Many questions crossed her mind as she was wrapped against him. Her knees were shaking lightly as he was holding her even closer, to take the least space possible. The sensation of his grip on her back made her shiver, she never had been this close to him. Her eyes were wide open, observing his throat as she could not see a lot more. The bitter smell of coffee and sandalwood emanated from his body, which produced in her a strange sentiment. The book under her arm was squeezed by their embrace, which hurt her a little but she did not really care. 

The Knights had finally gone far enough and his arms let go of their grasp. Fortunately, it was dark enough to hide the redness that had appeared on her cheeks. 

‘What are you doing here?’ he whispered as he was staring at her. His yellow eyes were piercing through the darkness.

‘I could ask you the same question.’ she answered while frowning. 

‘I saw you wandering around, I thought you were doing something suspicious.’ he responded, the lightest he could. His tone was menacing, yet Ari thought she could decipher a bit of concern.

‘I was not wandering, I was trying to go to Bernie’s room.’ she said as she was crossing her arms while holding her book. 

‘You were then definitely lost, this is not the right part of the Monastery at all.’ she did not have the time to explain that she was coming from the Library that he grabbed her wrist and pulled her in direction of the stairs. 

‘Wh-What are you doing?’ she muttered, surprised at his sudden movement.

‘I am bringing you to Bernadetta’s room. I am not leaving you to wander anymore with this creature lurking around the monastery.’ he said without stopping or looking at her. 

Her heart was pounding in her chest as her legs were advancing without her consent. They went down the stairs and hid under it quickly as other guards were strolling around the corridor. She was again pressed against his torso. 

‘There is no reason for you to be scared…’ he muttered as he was checking discreetly if anyone was still around. 

‘I am not scared…’ she answered, slightly frowning at his comment.

‘Then why is your heart beating so intensely?’ he asked while their eyes met. Her cheeks were burning her face. Was he mocking her about it?

They managed to join the Nobles dormitory on the first floor. He accompanied her to Bernie’s door where he finally released her wrist. 

‘Thank you, Hubert. I appreciate that you brought me here.’ she said while looking slightly away.

‘It was merely my duty. Who would I be if I let you stroll the Monastery alone when a monster is walking inside our fortress.’ he responded while bowing slightly as he usually did. A smile appeared on her face as she heard the door behind her open. 

‘A-Ari is that you?’ Bernie’s light voice resonated as the door was squeaking. A strident scream resounded, Ari understood that she had seen Hubert. She was still terrified by his presence. 

Footsteps and other loud noises could be heard from all around the corridor. Acting fast, her hand grabbed the dark figure’s jacket and pulled him inside the room while pushing Bernie slightly so she could close the door behind them. 

Noises were still coming from outside the room. Hubert was listening at the door, heavily sighing. The violet-haired noble had passed out while standing, this was something very usual yet frustrating.

‘Would you mind helping me moving her to the bed?’ she asked him as she put her book on the desk. She had not seen him in the light properly, his face was showing clear signs of tiredness. He grabbed the shoulders and Ari the legs of Bernie. She tucked her in and laid a kiss on her forehead as Hubert was observing her. 

‘I need to sleep, I have to go.’ he muttered while walking to the door. Ari reached for his arm which seemed to unsettle him a bit. She released him immediately not wanting to make him uncomfortable. 

‘The guards are still there, and they will be for a moment. They will search the source of the scream and if they found you there, you will be in deep trouble…’ she expressed while looking at him, frowning slightly. 

‘Then, what are you suggesting?’ he asked as he was rubbing his temples.

‘Stay a bit longer here, until they stop looking around. Otherwise you will be doing chores for the next few weeks or even worse…’ she explained to him, not really believing that he would listen. He was stroking his chin slightly while looking away.

‘I guess so… But I will not be able to sleep there.’ he said as he was showing the mess all around Bernadetta’s room. Ari left a chuckle out as she was partly responsible for it but did not want to admit it to him. 

‘Let’s just wait an hour and then see if the guards are still around. I borrowed this book you told me about, want to read some parts together?’ she said to him while retrieving the book and handing it to him. He smiled lightly but immediately grunted as he turned his back.

‘I will find another book in Bernadetta’s collection…’ he said already strolling with his fingers the different volumes in the shelf.

‘If you want to read about romance and knitting technics…’ a snarky smile appeared on her face. He looked a bit longer sighing heavily while Ari took her jacket and boots off. She sat on her cushion, resting her back on the bed and covered herself with the blanket. She brought a candlelight closer as her eyes were already absorbed by the pages. 

‘Are you…still interested in discussing about this book?’ his voice resonated a bit in the silent room. Bernie was sound asleep. She nodded at him, he took away his jacket and gloves. His knees crouched, he was observing the seating environment. 

‘Too old to sit on the floor maybe?’ One of her eyebrows was raised as she was lightly chuckling. A heavy sigh escaped his mouth, Ari sensed that he was not in a playful mood.  
‘I am only three years older than most of the other student.’ he answered as he was sitting beside her, his right knee frisked her left one which made her heart beat faster. 

‘You don’t want to read the introduction, it is very boring and redundant. Let’s go to something better.’ he exclaimed while taking the book from her hand, flipping through the page. With his finger, he showed her a paragraph. 

‘Do… Do you want me to read it out loud?’ her hands touched his while receiving the book back which made her heartbeats even stronger in her chest. 

‘Not particularly, I just hope you are a fast reader.’ he answered as he leaned hesitantly, to read over her shoulder. She approached herself closer to allow him to see the pages better which made him step back instantly. After looking into each other’s eyes for a moment, he seemed to loosen up a bit and allowed her to come nearer. Her cheeks were getting hotter, and she hoped that he could not see it. 

Footsteps from the guards could still be heard in the hallway. It disturbed Ari during her reading as there was a lot of noises. She wondered how Bernie could sleep through it. With his finger, Hubert turned the page just before she had finished it. She groaned slightly, annoyed by his impatience. After finishing the text, they started discussing it. This excerpt was about religion in Fodlan. Hubert was not a fervent subject to the goddess and was clear about that. Ari received the religious basics when she was younger, her mother was not passionate about it. 

‘So that’s one of the reason my mother hates that I am here, she doesn’t want me to fight for the Knight of Seiros.’ she explained as she was looking at her book. 

‘It is weird to fight for a cause you do not believe in.’ he added. 

‘I do believe in their principles, and they accepted me without any question. Moreover, I have a better chance to become a Knight here than anywhere else.’ she said while smiling lightly, she had a lot more of ambitions since the beginning of the year. 

‘You told me once that you only want to become stronger to protect your loved ones. Is there a particular reason for that?’ asked Hubert as he was picking another part of the book. They had finished talking about the last one in his opinion apparently. 

‘Hum. I. I… No there is no particular reason.’ She stuttered. It was always hard for her to hide the truth from people, moreover when Hubert was asking for it. 

‘You are the worst liar I have ever encountered.’ he added without even moving his eyes from the pages he was flipping. 

‘Alright… But you have to promise me not to tell anyone. Bernie will cry and Caspar will want to go on an adventure or whatever.’ she muttered as her head quickly turned around to make sure Bernie was still sleeping. 

‘I understand that you want to avoid Caspar so I promise.’ he said with a wry smile on his face. 

‘I grew up with my half-sister. We got raised by my mother. And she got kidnapped in front of me when she turned ten. And that’s It. I felt guilty not to have been able to do anything.’ her eyes were looking away, she was not really comfortable to talk about it even if she tried to show the opposite. 

‘It happened a long time ago and I rarely think about it anymore. I am not really sure that I even remember all of it… But since then I wanted to defend the people around Me.’ she added, coming back from this painful memory. 

Hubert hummed while their eyes met. Ari was unsure what he had expected from his question. 

‘So that explains why you protect people and hate feeling useless I guess…’ he declared while returning into his research for the next topic.

‘And you? Do you have any siblings?’ she wanted to change the subject quickly and asked the first question that came to her lips. 

‘I don’t like to answer personal question…’ he answered coldly.

‘That’s unfair. I told you what you wanted to know.’ she argued. She did not like to be the only one sharing. Hubert was hard to communicate with, he was comfortable talking about almost anything as long as it was not personal. It often gave her the impression to not know him at all.

‘I guess so. But you should have chosen a better question as it is not really interesting. I do not have any siblings.’ he sighed heavily as if revealing intimate details was painful to him. 

'This is strange for a Noble family…’ she started, tilting her head a bit.

‘My mother died giving birth to me and my father never remarried.’ he interrupted her almost immediately. ‘I prefer to explain it now before you say something not interesting or humiliate yourself with a useless theory.’ Ari was surprised, her heart pinched slightly to his comment. However, she did not want to react to it and waited until he had found the new passage for her to read. 

It has been already a long time since they entered the room, and yet the Knights were still patrolling around. They talked a bit more, but Ari’s eyes were starting to close themselves, she had no idea how long they stayed up and talked. It felt nice to spend more time just the two of them, he was hard to communicate with, but every words he pronounced made her heart jumped slightly more. She was not unfamiliar with the feeling, however, her mind did not want to give it too many thoughts. A noble and a recruit, such a silly dream of her mind… 

‘I will not hold much longer I think, I need to sleep Hubert.’ she said to him while yawning the more polite way possible. She got up and went to the bathroom to prepare herself. She untied her hair and cleaned her teeth. She put on her night shirt and went out to find Hubert preparing her makeshift bed beside Bernie’s bed. 

‘What are you doing?’ she asked while rubbing her eyelids. He turned and observed her an instant before answering. Being only in a shirt was not something that you would do around someone else in Noble families. Ari knew about it, but she was not going to sleep all dressed up. 

‘I had nothing else to do, so I made your bed.’ he explained, his limbs seemed more tensed suddenly. As Ari was thanking him, their eyes met. Her body urged her to try to hug him, yet she knew that he would just reject her immediately. He did not seem comfortable with physical displays of affection. 

‘It seems that the guards have finished panicking, I will leave you then.’ he said while grabbing his jacket and moving to the entrance. She accompanied him so she could close behind him once he had left. They wished each other a good night, still intensively staring at each other. His hand was on the knob, Ari thought that he was waiting to be sure that he could leave safely. 

‘See you tomorrow.’ A light sincere smile was on his face as he quickly exited without making any noise. 

Her heart was pounding the stronger it ever had, even stronger than when she was facing the dark beast. 

Her legs were shaking from the excitation of what had happened tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A friend of mine suggested that Bernie was awake during the whole scene in her room. Just imagining her faking to be sleeping and listening to their intimate scene. I found it hilarious. 
> 
> This chapter was a pleasure to write as their relationship is starting to develop more. Hubert is getting more comfortable around her. It will take some time but I really hope you stuck for the ride as there is a lot of fluff to come soon!
> 
> Thank you for reading my fanfiction! Tell me what you think of this chapter in the comment! And Kudos are always encouraging!


	9. The Death Knight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter follows up immediately with the last one. Ari wakes up extremely tired from the night she has spent with Hubert in Bernadetta room. They spend more time together and start even to exchange food, as their tastes complete each other. 
> 
> At the end of the month, they finally found out about The Death Knight being Jeritza, the black eagles accompanied by some recruits fight bravely to save Flayn. However, will it be enough?  
> Ari's weakness against magic and overprotective behaviour over Bernie will cause some troubles.

### Chapter – The Death Knight

Her muscles ached slightly as her body was waking up to the sound of her friend getting prepared. Her eyelids were so heavy that she struggled to open them. She was unsure how much she had slept, but she had no other choice than to get up. Memories from last night were starting to appear in her mind and a smile was already drawn on her face without her even noticing it. 

She braided her hair and attached them in a bun like every day. Dressed herself up in her uniform in the room as Bernie was using the bathroom. When she got out, Ari hugged her with all her strength. She needed to share her happiness with her. The violet-haired student got flustered at first, surprised by this much affection in the morning but quickly leaned in the embrace. 

She closed the door behind them and they walked in direction of the Dining Hall. The air in the morning was starting to be friskier with the season. Normally during this period, she would be helping her mother in their field, harvesting all the crops. 

They sighted all the other Black Eagles already eating their breakfast and joined them quickly, grabbing food right before. Her legs were aching as she sat in front of Caspar and beside Dorothea. 

Everyone was vividly talking about the lessons they would have during the day. It was difficult for her ears to follow all the discussion and even more for her mouth to take part in them. Her mind was in a numb state of happiness and tiredness. Her eyes caught Hubert’s glance a few times. He seemed to be exhausted as dark circles had appeared under his eyes. He suddenly got up and went in direction of the kitchens. 

Caspar was asking her to meet each other on the training ground later so they could practice a bit when a cup of coffee got placed in front of her. Hubert had brought one for her and had added some milk inside. Two small sugar cubes were displayed on the plate. She thanked him hesitantly, the glances of the other members were overwhelming her, mostly Dorothea’s. 

‘I made the strangest dream last night…’ started Bernadetta as Ari’s cheeks tainted in light pink. 

‘I dreamt that Hubert and you were in my room during the whole night…’ her words resonated as it created a silence at the table. Ari almost chocked while she was sipping her hot beverage. Her throat tightened as she tried to hide her surprise. 

‘Huh – what a strange dream.’ declared the ginger-haired recruit as her ears vibrated by Dorothea’s laugh. She was going to ask questions about that later on for sure.  
She was searching for some support from Hubert but he was occupied talking to Lady Edelgard. Ari’s heart pinched a bit at this sight. 

It was time to join the other recruits on the training ground. Alois was very concerned as some of his guards had heard a scream in the night. They had been patrolling all night long and could not find anything suspicious. He wanted to make sure that everyone was doing fine. Ari’s lips were trying the hardest to contain the laugh that wanted to escape her lungs. 

The training during the next few days was even tougher than before. They were entering a new phase of their entrainment and Alois was pushing them to the hardest possible. Her muscles were aching every night, and after sleeping on the floor of Bernie’s room, they were sore every day. She did try to wake up before her friend at least once a week so she could see Hubert. She had started to join him in the morning and at first, he definitely hated it but now he seemed to have gotten used to it. She could not do it as much as she wanted to as she had promised to the violet-haired student to protect her. 

She asked him if he would like to meet just before supper to play chess together. Their last game had left her a fond memory and she wanted to improve herself, or maybe even get her revenge. He said nothing as he was sipping his coffee, as usual, so she did not expect him to actually show up. Yet she came earlier and took a book just in case. The sinister figure appeared at the entrance, his travel set under his arm. Her heartbeat accelerated as he sat in front of her, preparing the board. She quickly went to prepare two cups of coffee. It was the first time she used the coffee press, but she had studied how Hubert used it. She brought back the two cups, he was waiting for her and was slipping through her current reading. She would have preferred him not to as it was a lighter book than what she normally read. Bernadetta had lent it to her as she wanted them to talk about it together. 

‘A love story… I did not imagine you to be interested in such things.’ he exclaimed with disdain as he put it back on the table. Ari’s cheeks were getting warmer and all her muscles suddenly tensed. Words were painfully getting out of her mouth trying to justify herself but he was clearly not showing any interest. 

With his finger, he asked her who wanted to start. He played the Whites, as she wanted to see how he opened a game. There was no bet this time, Hubert commented on how despiteful it had been, he hated gambling. Therefore, the game was a bit more casual, they even shared some comments and advice while sipping their hot beverages. The coffee was not as good as when he was the one doing it, yet he did drink it without any complaint. 

The supper was getting served while they were finishing, Hubert had again won but only because Caspar had deconcentrated her and she moved her Queen to the wrong square. She pouted a bit as Hubert was uncompromising, once a piece touched the board, it was final. Her eyebrows frowned a bit, however, she knew he was right. 

She helped him tidy up the set and they got up together to find some food. It was pickled seafood and vegetables. Ari did not like vinegar in dishes or anything that had bathed in it for months. Her mouth always itched and the aftertaste was horrible. Nevertheless, she would eat it if she had too, at least the dessert would be nice. 

‘What is wrong?’ he asked as she was picking her plate. 

‘Hm? Nothing.’ these words escaped her mouth like a reflex.

‘You know you are incapable of lying.’ he sighed as they were walking side by side in direction of the Black Eagles table. 

‘Urgh. I just don’t like vinegar at all.’ he stopped instantly and she turned around. Without any notice, with a sudden movement, he took her pickled seafood and swapped it for his dessert. 

‘At least eat your turnips.’ a wry smile appeared on his face as he continued walking. She followed him, hoping that her cheeks would regain their normal colours by the time they arrived at the table.

They separated as he went to sit alongside Lady Edelgard on the other side of the table. Caspar immediately complained that she had two desserts and asked how she managed to. She could not answer him before Dorothea commented on Hubert having weirdly no dessert but two bowls of seafood. An enormous grin appeared on her face as she was staring at Ari, clearly showing that she had understood what had happened. 

Ari left immediately once Bernadetta had finished her food. She loved spending time with Dorothea, however, once Hubert was around them, she would not stop making comments. They went back to the violet-haired noble’s room and discussed for a moment when Ari remembered that she had forgotten her friend’s book in the Dining Hall. She returned immediately and found nothing. The Kitchen staff had not seen anything and she came back empty-handed. The ginger-haired apologised, moreover promised to buy her a new one as soon as she could find it in the market. Bernie did not accept it, yet she did not really have the choice. Ari slept badly after that, thinking about how she could have forgotten it. 

As the next days went on, she searched for the book all around the monastery. She decided to see Byleth about it as she was good with finding lost objects. The moment she arrived in the Black Eagles classroom, she saw Edelgard talking about Flayn’s disappearance to her professor as the other students were around. Everyone was still looking for her, they had moved the whole Monastery and yet she was still unfindable. Ari’s heart pinched a bit as she thought how thoughtless she had been about this whole story. She had been behaving as usual without any worry about her disappearance. She never had met her, but she could have been more attentive in her opinion. 

‘Everyone, Hurry! I heard a scream from Professor Jeritza’s room!’ screamed Caspar suddenly, making everyone in the room jumped on their feet. They ran following him, Ari was right behind Bernadetta. She was not going to leave her alone as she already seemed terrified enough that she could faint on the spot. 

They arrived as Byleth, Edelgard and Hubert were entering the room. They all discovered Manuela unconscious, laying on the floor. 

‘Look at her hand. It looks as though she is pointing at something…There.’ Hubert exclaimed while revealing a hidden passage. 

Hanneman abruptly erupted in the room, inquiring immediately about what was happening. He asked Edelgard to accompany him to the infirmary to help him carry her. She searched for Byleth’s eyes, waiting for her approval. The later one nodded at her student. 

Ari moved on the side, pushing Bernadetta a bit to let them exit the room. The professor ordered everyone to meet up as soon as they retrieved their equipment. The situation was urgent, however, they should not move headlong into a trap unarmed. Ari followed Caspar to the armoury, hollering to some recruits to come to support them. She put on her chainmail and her plates the fastest she could, she chose to leave some part of her equipment behind to gain some time. She grabbed an axe and joined her friends, running back to the secret entrance. 

Hubert was already there, waiting for everyone alongside Byleth. Their eyes met as the professor gave some instructions. Everyone needed to be extremely careful and to protect each other.

‘We don’t know what’s waiting for us on the other side. Is everyone ready?’ she asked while observing the crowd in front of them.

They all followed as the teal-haired teacher lead the path through the secret way. All of them quickly got engulfed in the darkness while they were going down stones stairs. Ari’s hand got squeezed by Bernie, she was not comfortable in these dark places. 

The further they descended, the colder the air was. Her skin started to shiver as it would even pass through her padded gambeson. Her jaws clenched to prevent her teeth to make any noise.

Finally, a light appeared at the end of the tunnel. Her eyes took an instant to acclimate to this sudden change, blinking a few times to adjust her vision.

‘Hm? I see someone. They are unconscious.’ declared Hubert while pointing to the other side of the room. Flayn was laying there with another unknown student. 

‘Someone’s coming! I recognise that scythe and mask… it’s that jerk we fought at the Holy Mausoleum!’ shouted Caspar as a dark mounted figure appeared on the other side of the room. Bernie had told her about him but he was even more terrifying than what she had imagined. 

‘That sword. You must be… One of us will die, the other will live. I will enjoy this dance of damnation.’ his voice resonated around them before he left, taking the two captives with him and leaving some warriors behind.

Byleth shouted some orders at everyone. They would need to act urgently. They decided that dividing the members would be more efficient to retrieve Flayn the quickest before the Death Knight disappeared with her. There were not enough recruits to protect all the students so they got separated in between the two groups.

They got ambushed by many foes immediately. Ari left Bernie behind with Linhardt, Caspar and Petra. Her heartbeat accelerated as she obeyed Byleth’s orders while looking at her friend’s panicked eyes. 

She joined Hubert’s side instantly. She would be responsible along with another recruit to support him and Dorothea as they were more sensitive to physical attacks than the rest of the group. 

They left the others in the first room as they entered the second one. They had no idea how big the dungeon was, yet they needed to go fast. Ari’s shield was resonating every time she parried attacks, fighting in the closed ground was unsettling. Sounds seemed louder, piercing through her ears. Hubert’s laugh which was normally only terrifying became unbearable to her. Her breath was accelerating as the battle went on. 

Magic was raising around them as two mages appeared in the room. Ari jumped to avoid a spell cast in her direction, approaching herself of Hubert. She waited for him to slow them down to run and lunge on one of them. Her axe landed on his shoulder and went through the flesh easily. His scream vibrated inside her core, exhilarating, pushing her will to fight even more. She removed her blade and countered a surprise attack coming from her side. She jumped on the foe, he was a lot taller than her but when she hit his knees with all her force he fell heavily on the ground. She finished the job in front of Hubert’s deadly smile. 

They finally could enter the next room, again foes were waiting for them, emerging from other chambers on the side. Ari could not count how many people were encircling them. Byleth was screaming orders, her voice sounded alarmed. Hubert persuaded her into progressing without Ari and him. It would give them more time and they would be joined again by the group behind later on. 

He cast a spell on the behemoth guarding the passage on the right, which permitted her, Dorothea, Ferdinand and the recruit to get on the other side, closing the door behind them.  
Ari was facing numbers of warriors, a heavy shiver crossed her whole body. 

‘Are you sure this was the smartest thing to do Hubert?’ she said still facing all the enemies. They were encircling them from all around. 

‘The support will arrive very soon. Stand by me.’ his voice was calm, not showing any sign of concern of the challenge they had in front of them. 

Her shield parried the many attacks, and Hubert was conjuring his dark magic to anyone who was putting them too much in danger. His spells always needed some time to prepare, during this moment, Ari was lunging on anyone who was menacing him. One hit from a heavy opponent could put him in a bad situation. 

Magic was flying over her shoulders, terrifying enchantments blasting the enemies and leaving them screaming for mercy. 

‘How many of them can there be?’ shouted Ari at her partner, not expecting an answer. 

‘Not enough to kill us don’t you think?’ responded Hubert laughing behind her. She smiled at his comment, knowing that he was there was giving her more strength in her legs. She maintained her position, fiercely defending her friend. 

Suddenly, a mage entered the area and was targeting her. She jumped on the side to avoid his spell, however, it left an opening to a warrior on Hubert. 

Her arm moved, her muscles were acting without any permission from her mind. Her axe flew to the opponent, planting deeply in his skull. Hubert nodded at her as she was returning by his side. Suddenly, a spell blew in their direction. A fire blast was burning everything on its way, raising the temperature instantly. Her shield blocked the attack from attaining her partner, yet the metal was heating fast. 

An agonising scream escaped her lungs, as she retained the powerful blast with all her energy. Her arm was burning from the contact with the metallic surface. When finally the magic fainted, her knees felt heavily on the ground. Her hands were shaking which made it impossible to remove the straps of her shield. Her eyes were twitching between her arm and the battleground. There were only one warrior and the mage left in the room, approaching dangerously from them. 

She heard Hubert casting another spell as she finally managed to detach the boiling metal from her arm, taking away with it some fabric and flesh. Her jaws clenched as the pain was rushing through her body, biting her cheeks until she could taste blood. 

All of a sudden, she felt lifted. Hubert was helping her getting up and holding her by her waist and under her shoulder. Their eyes met for an instant, but not for too long as the warrior ran at them at full speed and screaming. Ari only available arm reached for Hubert’s secret dagger in a second, grabbing it and throwing it directly in the foe’s head. His body dropped heavily on the floor after his feet finally stopped advancing. 

‘Very resourceful. Nevertheless, next time use your own dagger.’ he exclaimed as a wry smile appeared on his face. He was still holding her as Bernadetta and the others erupted in the room. Linhardt immediately took care of her scorch which gave her enough strength to continue to fight, at least for now. She grabbed her axe but had to leave her shield behind. She could not put anything on her open wound, even after the healing. 

They urgently ran throughout the dungeon until they reached Byleth, fighting opponents, guarding Dorothea who was taking care of Ferdinand and the recruit. The Death Knight was on the other side of the room, overseeing the scene from his horse. 

‘You are finally here! Linhardt, stay with Dorothea! All of the others, come with me!’ shouted Byleth at her students as her sword was piercing through the armour of her opponent. 

Ari stayed on Hubert’s side, however, without her shield, her whole body was unbalanced. With her axe, she was able to parry some of the attacks but she was not a wall anymore. Some blows were passing through, fortunately, Hubert managed to avoid them. Nevertheless, it distraught him during his spell casting and made him miss occasions to vanquish enemies. 

Loud metallic noises were resonating in the whole room. Ari noticed that Petra got wounded by a warrior. Caspar protected them as Linhardt was taking care of her. Bernadetta was shooting arrows standing behind them, trying to support all of them without getting too overwhelmed by the fight. 

Byleth was finally approaching where Flayn and the other student were held captive, but the fight was not over yet. The Dark Knight was finally on the move and was approaching the professor dangerously. Hubert ran to her position, as Ari followed him even if her arm started to hurt again as the effect of the spell had faded.

‘You should withdraw from here.’ Hubert’s calm voice resonated beside her. Her heart started pounding as he was reading a dark tome, menacing the impressive cavalier.

‘I don’t take orders from you.’ responded the Death Knight as he passed by them, almost hitting Byleth as she jumped on the side.

Dark magic raised around all of them as Hubert cast a spell on the sinister figure. It was one of his most powerful tomes and yet it didn’t even make him flinch. By a rigid stroke on the reins, he turned his horse, facing them again preparing another attack. Ari’s knees were failing her, as all her muscles were exhausted. Her vision was getting blurry as the pain was filling her body. 

The three of them were preparing for his attack when instead he called out for more reinforcement. The room got filled with archers and mages, definitely sealing the fate of all the students in Ari’s mind. A groan escaped her lungs as it was getting too much for her body. 

The other group of students were getting overthrown by these unexpected assailants. It took no more than Bernie’s scream to make Ari’s legs run in their direction furiously. 

‘Don’t leave your position!’ Hubert’s voice was barely audible as she was already too far away. Moreover, she was not controlling her body anymore. Her limbs were obeying the wrath that was filling her body as she plunged on the first foe in front of her. Her arm had not enough strength to even make him move slightly. Caspar was getting beaten down by two warriors as Bernie was trying to shoot at them, but she was too close for even extend her bow. Even Linhardt was trying to defend the group with his magic.

Ari was barely standing up anymore. Her legs were stumbling on everything, and her arm was intensely burning her again. She was reaching for her friends as her hair got grabbed violently. Her body was pulled backwards by an enemy, she was struggling without any success. A scream escaped her lungs as the ground under her feet started to become even more unstable.

All of a sudden, her head was liberated as the corpse of her assailant fell on the floor with a thud. Her body got lifted and her eyes discerned Hubert helping her to stand up.

‘Imbecile!’ he exclaimed firmly at her while he was preparing another spell. He seemed angry or disappointed at her, but she could not care less when Bernie was still in danger.

‘I ordered you to stop moving!’ he could barely finish his sentence that his body fell heavily, bringing her with his collapse. 

‘Halt. Your work here is done, Death Knight.’ an unknown voice resonated in the whole room.

‘We will cross paths again. I am the Flame Emperor… It is I who will reforge the world.’ these words faded away with all the enemies around them in an instant. 

Ari’s head was still spinning from her fall and her eyes took an instant to decipher what was happening beside her. Linhardt and Dorothea’s voices were vibrating in her ears. She saw that Bernie was in safety with Caspar and she took a long breath out of relief. She turned herself so she could get up and noticed Hubert’s immobile body. An arrow was planted in his back. She difficultly crawled to him and checked if he was still breathing by putting her hand in front of his mouth. She quickly got her response as he let a soft groan out, which made a smile appeared on her face.

‘You imbecile…’ he muttered as he was trying painfully to get up, his arms were struggling to support his weight. 

Ari had already gained some energy back as she approached him and asked her blue-haired friend to give her a hand. 

‘I do not need your help.’ grunted the sinister student when they touched him. 

‘Hubert. Be reasonable, you have an arrow planted on you back.’ chuckled Caspar while he was supporting most of his weight, walking in direction of the healers.

‘There is too much for us to do, we have to move to the infirmary immediately.’ explained Linhardt to Byleth as she was coming to them, Flayn’s body in her arms. 

‘Professor! We finally have found you! What has happened here?’ Edelgard’s question got no immediate answer. She had arrived with Hanneman and the Blue Lions and they helped all the wounded students and recruits. Healing the weaker ones on the spot and carrying the others to the infirmary. 

Ari left Hubert behind to Mercedes as she got lifted by Dedue. He had run to her the moment he entered the dungeon. He was moving her easily, holding her by both arms. 

‘Thank you Dedue.’ she muttered as she was holding his neck with her good arm, she was resting the other on her stomach. Her eyes were observing Caspar carrying Bernadetta right behind them. Her violet-haired friend had passed out from the fatigue. Ari’s eyebrows raised as the noble started blushing. She stopped to tease him when they finally got out of the secret dungeon.

They all arrived at the infirmary where healers from the Church were already in action. Manuela was probably still in one of these beds from her encounter with the Death Knight. Flayn and the unknown girl were brought up by Byleth and Hanneman. Ferdinand and Petra walked by themselves and got their last wounds healed up in no time. Ari got sat down by her training friend, a healer took care of her arm in an instant. The burn was severe, but nothing that could not be healed. She noticed that Caspar sat beside Bernie’s bed as a mage was looking at her injuries. They insisted to check on him but he refused until he was sure that the violet-haired student was in safety.

The healer was finishing to bandage up her arm as she saw Hubert getting carried and installed in one of the bed by two members of the Blue Lions, followed closely by Edelgard. The mages closed the curtains behind and the white-haired noble went to talk to the professor right after. They were discussing today’s mission and this mysterious flame emperor. While they were doing so, Ari said goodbye to Dedue while strongly thanking him. She then joined the blue-haired student and sat beside Bernie’s bed for a while. The mages had closed the curtains from their booth. A lot of agitation could still be heard from the rest of the infirmary. 

Both Edelgard and Byleth entered their booth, the professor pushed the fabric to let his student in first. 

The white-haired noble seemed more concerned than the professor as they were inquiring on Bernie’s state. She threw a few cold glances at Ari, which made her very uneasy. Caspar laughed as she had just passed out from the exhaustion and that she only had a few scratches. He managed to protect her today bravely and got congratulated by his teacher. 

As they were leaving, Edelgard asked to talk privately to Ari. She hesitantly left her friends behind as they walked together in the corridor. 

‘Byleth told me you left your position today Ari, disobeying direct orders. I will report your comportment to Alois as it has put Hubert in great danger.’ Edelgard words were like small daggers entering her heart. Shame was filling her whole body. 

‘I-I am sorry… I thought about protecting Bernadetta…’ she tried to explain.

‘I don’t want any excuses, because of your reckless attitude, Hubert is now in a dire situation’ she interrupted coldly. 

‘I thought he was getting cared for by the mages.’ Ari’s knees were starting to shake in front of the impressive house leader. 

‘The arrow was poisoned… the mages are doing their best but it’s still uncertain…’ she explained as he eyes started to look away. Ari’s heart was pounding as a cold sensation filled her whole body in an instant. 

‘I-I am so sorry…’ tears were rolling down on her cheeks. Her fists were closed, her nails were entering her skin. Her legs turned away and ran the faster they could. Her shoulders could sense the weight of Edelgard’s judgement upon them.

She arrived at the recruits’ dormitory where she was welcomed with opened arms by her crewmates. The three other recruits had already told everything about their rescue mission and her sobs faded. She got wrapped by the arms of one of her roommates as she noticed that she had been crying. Warmth and comfort was something that she had missed. Bernie only hugged her when she was panicked or that she had been anxious. And Ari knew that she forced herself to make her happy. Nobles were not comfortable with these kinds of display of affection. This was the best thing about being with commoners, there was no need to contain any feelings inside. 

She followed them to the Dining Hall even if she was not hungry at all. They sat at the same table, which was the first time of the year. Alois even joined them, doing some terrible jokes to bring up everyone’s morale. A few members of the Black Eagles were on the other side of the room, Caspar made a sign from afar, wanting Ari to join them but she refused. Their professor was eating with them, Edelgard was sitting beside her. She was the clear reason she did not want to walk to them, however, she was also enjoying her mates’ company. Competitiveness was not in their plans tonight. 

As everyone was finishing, Alois moved near her. His smile was genuine as he asked if her arm was still hurting. She responded that she was looking forward to having her first proper battle scar as a nervous chuckle escaped her lungs.

‘Byleth told me about the battle. It was not your best moment…’ he started as his smile transformed itself into a straight face. Ari’s heart got heavy in her chest. Her hands were squeezing themselves without any control. And one of her knees could not stop shaking as she was listening to him.

‘However, you did what you thought was right. And you have done so perfectly until the last moment. Please don’t feel bad, I am really proud of you.’ his eyes were filled with kindness and Ari wanted to hug him with all her strength that was left in her body. 

‘I am proud of all of you, recruits!’ his voice created some laughs and chanting from all them as a light smile finally appeared on her face. 

As they were all leaving, to go back to their rooms and occupations, Ari’s arm got pulled behind her. Her head turned and she immediately recognised Dorothea. She had run from the Black Eagles table to talk to her. 

‘Hubert is fine. I thought you would like to know.’ Her words were a deliverance to the ginger-haired recruit’s ears. Her heartbeat accelerated as she jumped at her friend’s neck. The opera singer seemed surprised but gladly returned the hug warmly. 

‘And don’t worry about Edie, she told me about your conversation. She is not angry at you, just concerned for Hubie. Once he is out of the infirmary, she will feel better.’ added Dorothea with her kind voice. 

‘Thank you, thank you so much.’ she said as she sniffled lightly. Her whole face was concentrating on not crying again. 

‘You do really like him.’ she laughed as Ari’s cheeks burned her immediately. She did try to argue about it, but Dorothea was not listening. 

‘He is asleep now, but I am sure he will be happy to have a hot meal when he wakes up. And you know the saying right?’ she continued laughing at her odd facial expression. 

Her body was not holding her anymore and she walked painfully to her shared room. Her head was in a complete fog of all the events of the day. She was absolutely reassured by the news of Hubert, yet her heart still pinched when she thought about his injury. 

As she laid in her bed, her three roommates were discussing lightly. She did not have the strength to join them, and she tried to sleep even with the noise they were making beside her. She was thinking about Dorothea’s advice as she finally fell into a profound slumber.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was long for me to write! I did not want to show Edelgard as a bad person. She is concerned for Hubert and also about their plan and how it did not work as expected. 
> 
> I am very happy about the light fluff that is starting to arrive in Hubert and Ari relationship. It's slow but I promise there will be so much more moments even sweeter in the future! 
> 
> Tell me what you thought about this chapter in the comment!  
> I am so happy to see that there are some people reading my fic, it really makes me happy!


End file.
